Now or Never
by Sinx-x
Summary: Naruto’s the new student at Kohona High, and is partnered up with Gaara, the school ‘freak.’ ’ Things start looking up until Naruto’s secret is revealed. How will this change his new relationship, and what is Gaara hiding himself? Cowritten with Rishkaana
1. Chapter 1

_Men in white coats are running beside the hospital cart he's tied down to. Blurred white lights are flashing above him as they run down the hall. Sweat is beading off his forehead at the terror that it has happened again. It felt like he had been stabbed; his left side was on fire. Screams echoed down the hallway, splitting his head open. He didn't realize they were his own._

_Then all of a sudden, the screams stopped, replaced by the faint sound of the heart monitor, no longer broken up in beeps, but one, continuous sound. _

Naruto shot out of bed, trying to catch his breath. He reached over, blindly searching for the sleep button on his blaring alarm clock. His spiky blonde hair was plastered to his face from the sweat. He stared blankly at the wall opposite him, remembering the far-too-realistic nightmare that had just occurred.

He turned to the side to see what time it was. His ramen-bowl clock read 7:15. The sun shone in full force through the window behind it. Still shaking, Naruto rose from bed, dreading the new school year, not to mention the new school. New school, new town. As if he hadn't been put through enough.

He could hear his father downstairs, attempting to make breakfast. Just another charcoal meal Naruto had to look forward too. As Naruto descended the staircase, he could see his father shuffling around with the numerous pots and pans, dropping a few on his foot.

"Son of a... batch of cookies," Minato had to bite his tongue to stop from swearing as his son entered the room.

"Good morning to you too," Naruto answered unenthusiastically, taking a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Minato glanced over at his son worriedly. "You ok," he asked casually.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well you start a new school today. And," Minato looked away from Naruto, down at the floor. "You were screaming again this morning."

"Yeah, by the way, have you found a job yet," Naruto asked, quickly changing the subject.

"I have an interview this afternoon with my possibly-future boss," Minato answered. Naruto could tell by his tone that it was a woman. An...attractive woman.

Naruto glared at his dad, feeling it was too soon for him to be chasing after woman. It hadn't even been a year since his mother's death.

Minato, standing over the stove, his back turned to his son, commented, "You should be getting ready for school instead of burning holes in the back of my head."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Naruto mumbled.

**********

Naruto stood outside the front of Konoha High, the glass doors reflecting the sun, blinding him as he walked inside. He was surprised to see metal detectors, since there hadn't been any at his old, much smaller school. He went through without any problems, but heard a kid beside him cursing under his breath as the alarm went off.

Naruto couldn't help but watch the security guards take metal chains, assorted piercings, and a spiky collar from a brooding, red-headed boy, wearing all black with black nail polish and heavy eyeliner that didn't really match his eyes. As the redhead looked his way, Naruto noticed a blood-red tattoo over his left eye; the symbol for love. The redhead, seeing that Naruto was staring at him, sneered as he was finally able to walk past him, clear of the security.

Naruto, feeling intimidated, quickly looked the other way onto another boy who was having trouble with the metal detectors.

"Come on Shino, empty your pockets," the guard indicated towards the boy's jacket pockets.

"I'm telling you, it's the braces I got last week," the boy protested.

"Ok then, show me."

There was a pause; Naruto couldn't see the boy's face, as his hood was up. After a moment, the guard waved him through.

As Naruto's curiosity to see the boy's face was occupying his attention, another boy ran into him, knocking him to the floor.

"Oh, I didn't see you. Sorry about that," the boy said, helping Naruto up off the ground. "You're new here, aren't you?"

Naruto nodded timidly, brushing dust off his pants.

"I'm Kiba. And you are..." he said, after realizing he didn't know who he was talking to.

"I'm, uh, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Nice to meet you Naruto," Kiba cut in happily. "Hey can I see your block schedule?"

"Sweet," Kiba said after a few seconds of examining. "We have all the same classes. Come on, I'll show you around," and before Naruto could politely decline, Kiba grabbed his arm and started dragging him down the hallway.

As they walked, Naruto noticed Kiba mumbling about something, but wasn't paying enough attention to hear what it was. The red marks on his cheeks seemed to make him stand out in the crowd of high-schoolers, and not necessarily in a bad way. As Kiba was talking, Naruto absently noticed his abnormally sharp teeth.

Naruto followed Kiba into a classroom, which he assumed was the social studies classroom. The walls were covered in maps of the world. Naruto looked around at the desks, most of which were filled. The classroom was noisy, except for one corner, where the redhead from earlier that morning was sitting. As more and more people filed in to the classroom, the only empty seat left was beside him. Naruto, glancing around the room, cautiously sat down beside the redhead, avoiding his searing gaze.

Once everyone had settled down, the teacher, Iruka Sensei, started talking. "Ok class, we're going to be starting a project today," he paused to let the groans and mumbles take their course, starting to hand out sheets of paper to the students. "Let's see, partners."

"Ino and Sakura." At the call of their names, two girls up at the front turned to glare at each other.

"Sasuke and Lee." One of the boys started glaring daggers into the back of another, very eager boy sitting at the very front of the classroom.

"Kiba and Shino, Tenten and Hinata," Iruka Sensei continued listing names off. By the time he had gotten to the back of the classroom where Naruto was sitting, every other name had been called. Every name but the one of the redhead he was sitting beside.

"Gaara, I suppose you'll be paired with... Naruto, right," Iruka Sensei asked.

"Yeah," Naruto answered quietly, trying not to look towards the redhead named Gaara, whom he was sure was attempting to glare him to death. However, when he finally did look back at his partner, he wasn't glaring at all, but rather staring off into space, tapping his pen on the desk. Naruto wasn't sure whether to be relieved or offended.

Naruto sighed, following his partner's example, and stared off into space. He had a feeling that this was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

naruto: why do i have to work with HIM

Gaara: hmph, and you think i want to work with you?

Ixea and Rishkaana: -_-' well deal with it

Naruto: why cant i work with Kiba?

Ixea: cause Rishkaana and i DONT own this anime...

Rishkaana: ... we CAN make YOU do what every WE want! muahaha

Gaara: Great

Ixea, Rishkaana: now onwards to chapter 2

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey, Gaara!"

Gaara turned around to face Naruto, the short, spiky-haired kid he'd been forced to pair up with in social studies. He was surprised to have Naruto come up to him; he seemed to be the type that was afraid of his own shadow.

"Well, I was thinking, umm, you have any ideas for, umm, what we should, ahh, do for this project..." Naruto ended his fragmented sentence with a short cough. His shoulders were slouched, and he was doing his best to look everywhere _but _at Gaara.

_Oh great, now I'm_ _going to get sick,_ Gaara thought in irritation. "No," he said evenly, "I don't," and continued walking away from the school grounds.

Naruto, slightly vexed and quite put off, turned on his heels and started walking the other way, towards home, thinking, _What a creep. _

**One Week Later**

"Ok, class," Iruka Sensei said, "I've posted your current marks by the door. And just a reminder," he continued as most of the class started to make their way to the door to see their grade, "your projects are due on Friday."

Gaara was the last one to the door. "Oh, wonderful," he commented sarcastically, seeing his mark. He glanced down the list to see his partner's mark. Naruto wasn't doing much better than he was. Gaara looked back at the blonde boy, one of the few who hadn't come up to see their marks. His head was down on the desk; Gaara would have thought he was sleeping aside from the coughing.

Sighing inwardly, Gaara approached Naruto, cursing once again the uneasiness he felt when talking to others. "Hey," he said passively, and Naruto lifted his head off the desk to look at him. "We should probably start on this project soon," Gaara continued, trying his hardest to not seem awkward.

Naruto coughed a few times before nodding his head in agreement. "Maybe we should go to your place after school or something?"

A sliver of panic rose in Gaara. "Why can't we go to your place?"

"My dad's renovating; the drywall dust is making my cough even worse." As if to emphasize the point, Naruto let out another couple of rasping coughs.

Gaara hardly noticed. _He shouldn't be home till late, _he thought. _Just have to get him out of the house by dark. _"Alright then. My house after school," Gaara said in resignation, and Naruto put his head back down on the desk.

**********

Naruto couldn't help but notice Gaara's anxiety as they walked farther and farther from the school, and closer to his house. The redhead's hands were shoved into pockets and absently fiddling with his chains, eyes following the pavement, shoulders stiff as a board, and the shadows of his face hiding his pale green eyes. _Wow, _thought Naruto. _That's really..._

_Cute._

_No, it is not cute._

_Adorable._

Naruto's eyes widened as his mind started running away from him. _Charming, dreamy, attractive..._

_Ok that's enough!_ Naruto turned around, starting to walk backwards so as to not have to look at the other boy.

"What are you doing?" Naruto turns back around at the question from Gaara.

"Nothing," he replied a little too quickly, like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Whatever," Gaara muttered, and continued to walk, leaving Naruto rushing to catch up.

The rest of the walk was silent. Naruto cursed himself for thinking of Gaara in 'that' way, watching the ground as he walked, and almost running into Gaara as he stopped in front of him. Naruto's eyes followed the gates up...and up...and up...

It was huge! It wasn't a house, it was a mansion! Complete with circular driveway with a large fountain in the centre. Naruto had passed by the house a few times before, but had never given a second thought as to who might have lived in it. "You actually live here," Naruto asked in awe. Gaara just rolled his eyes, having seen pushing open the wrought iron gates and hurried inside. Naruto followed, not so hurriedly, his eyes never once leaving the magnificent house that Gaara called home.

The outside may have been amazing, but Naruto found himself picking his jaw up off the floor at seeing the inside of the house. Pale cream walls seemed to go on forever, towards the back of the estate and up to the mile-high ceiling. There were two dark wood spiral staircases right next to each other that led up to the balcony. An amazing, old, Victorian-Style place, untouched by anything modernized, like something out of a fairytale. "My god, I wish I was you," Naruto muttered, more to himself than to Gaara. He didn't notice Gaara's face cloud over, his eyes darken. He whispered something, too soft for Naruto to make out, and headed up the magnificent, spiral staircase.

Naruto followed Gaara into a room that could only have been Gaara's room. The room lacked the elegance that flowed through the rest of the house; rather, it looked like a regular teenage boy's room, though quite a bit larger than normal; clothes thrown all over the floor, posters covering the walls, dark curtains covering the window behind his bed. Gaara had managed to sufficiently turn his room into something unimpressive, which was impressive in and of itself. "Wait here," he said to Naruto. "I'll be back in a minute," dropping his things at the door and heading back out of the room again. And suddenly Naruto was left alone in the beautiful yet intimidating house.

The blonde found his attention drawn to an old, dusty picture sitting on the desk beside the bed, of two young boys and a girl. They youngest boy, the one in the middle, was obviously Gaara. It made Naruto smile, to see how little Gaara had changed since he was young. The other boy, on the left, who was a little bit older, sporting short, brown hair and a lot of muscle for someone so young. That one must be Konkuro, Naruto figured, Gaara's older brother. He'd seen him in the halls a few times.

But no one had said anything about Gaara having a sister. At least, she looked like she could be his sister. Her hair was blonde, but she kind of looked like Gaara. They all had smiles on their faces. _Gaara smiling, _Naruto thought wryly. _That's one I'd have a hard time imagining._

Just as Naruto was about to pick up the picture frame to take a better look, he heard Gaara just outside the door. He quickly moved away from the desk, feeling that he had done something he shouldn't have. When Gaara walked in the door he looked angry. Naruto gave him a questioning look. "Never mind," Gaara said, storming over to the desk with his laptop.

Naruto started to walk over to Gaara, still looking at the desk with the photo. He was so busy staring at it that he forgot to watch where he was going, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in the side of his head as he tripped across the carpet, hitting his head on the bedpost. He slid to the floor, stars sprinkling his vision.

Lying on the floor, he could see Gaara, sitting on the desk, green eyes unexpectedly sparkling, a big grin on his face. Naruto was shocked to see such a smile on such a sullen boy, especially after just thinking how unlikely a sight that would be. The surprise of seeing him smiling sent Naruto into hysterical laughter, his cough magically disappearing for a few wonderful moments. Not long after, Gaara had joined Naruto in the laughter, which just added fuel to Naruto's fire.

Then Naruto noticed the other laughter had stopped. He looked up at Gaara again; he was looking out the window at the main gate. Panic was written all over his face. The healthy colour that had been in his face from the laughter was all gone, replaced with a sickly pallor. There was fear in his eyes. "Stay here," he ordered Naruto, crossing the room in a few easy strides. "Don't make a sound."

Naruto started to get up. "What...why?"

"Just..." Gaara paused at the doorway. "Stay in here. No matter what." And with that he slammed his door shut, once again leaving Naruto alone.

Naruto sat in silence, listening to the voices downstairs. He wanted to listen to Gaara's words of wisdom, but his curiosity won out. He slowly opened the door, almost expecting the hinges to creak and give away his actions. The door, however, worked smooth and silently, easing Naruto's apprehensions slightly as he began to tiptoe out onto the balcony. He hadn't taken more than a step outside the door when the screaming started. He ran back inside the room, closing the door behind him, and sinking to the floor. Every one of Gaara's cries of pain seared into his soul. _Oh my God, shit, shit, shit, _kept running through Naruto's head. He couldn't think, he couldn't see, he couldn't breathe.

A moment later, Naruto realized that he actually couldn't breathe. Coughs tore through his chest, giving him no respite to catch his breath. He was starting to become dizzy; black spots were clouding his vision. He tried to call out for help, but couldn't speak, the only sounds coming forth were choking gasps, his lungs fighting for air and losing the battle. He was vaguely aware of his body crying out in pain, his skin turning red, then white, then blue.

Looking down at the carpet, Naruto's blank stare fell upon a pool of blood, the last thing he saw before he slipped into unconsciousness.

**********

Gaara rushed back down the stairs, meeting his father at the door, who was wearing a fine, black suit, hair combed back to perfection; not a particle was out of place. "Hello son," Gaara's father, Kaz, said in a deceivingly warm tone, an affectionate smile painted on his face, arms outstretched as if to embrace his youngest child. Gaara, knowing better, braced himself for the impact that was about to come.

Gaara let out a breath of pain as his head was slammed into the wall behind him. "Why, you never come down to greet me," Kaz continued in the same warm tone, as if he was actually touched. Then his voice turned ice cold, accusing. "What are you hiding?"

Gaara gave his father a mocking grin. "You complain when I don't come down to see you, and now you complain when I do," he said in a tone to match his grin. "I just can't get it right."

A small cry of pain escaped Gaara's lips as his head crashed into the wall again. He sunk to the floor as his father let go of the grip he had on his hair. Kaz calmly walked over to the large fireplace in the middle of the room, grabbing hold of a fire poker that had been sitting in the middle of the roaring fire. Gaara had to fight to suppress the panic rising within him as his father neared him again, the end of the metal poker glowing orange with heat.

"Don't talk back to me, boy," Kaz commanded, grabbing a fistful of Gaara's hair. He pressed the metal fire poker into the flesh on Gaara's chest. The hole in Gaara's shirt appeared instantaneously, though you wouldn't have been able to tell it was there, for when Kaz lifted the wrought iron from his son's chest, the skin had become as black as the shirt Gaara was wearing. Not allowing his son any respite, Kaz pressed the metal to Gaara's skin again, his grin growing wider with every one of his son's screams.

Gaara gritted his teeth against the pain, though he didn't really want to hold the screams back. The louder he screamed, the more likely he was to forget his suspicions that Gaara had something to hide. _Naruto, _Gaara found himself thinking in between the waves of pain, _I'm so sorry._ The shy blonde boy who, up until a few minutes ago, had been just another face in the crowd, who was the first person he had shared a sincere laugh with in years: And Gaara repaid him by exposing him to the evils that plagued his family.

An unbidden thought rose to the surface. _Why him?_

Kaz pressed the metal against Gaara's abdomen, letting it pierce the skin and dig deep into the flesh. Gaara could hear the sizzling, even over his cries of pain, and all thoughts of the boy upstairs were destroyed. The smell of burning flesh filled his mind, bringing to the surface the memories of a thousand days like this one. Even as the metal tore through his body, his own screams tore through his soul.

"Stop!"

Gaara opened his eyes to see his brother Kankuro, standing over him protectively, fending off a blow from their father. Kaz swung the fire poker, hitting Kankuro in the side of the head, sending him reeling.

As his brother leaned against the wall, his eyes met Gaara's. _Go, _he mouthed. Gaara nodded, scrambling to his feet, ignoring the pain in his chest and abdomen. Kaz didn't even give Gaara a second look; all his attention was now reserved for Kankuro, who had dared interrupt his fun. Shame ran through him as he turned to run up the stairs. He wished he could look back, for fear that it would be the last time, but he dared not. If he looked back, he'd never be able to leave his brother to the fate he'd chosen.

There was another in the house that needed his help.

Gaara opened the door to his room and his heart stopped. Naruto was lying unconscious at his feet, a pool of blood spreading from his lips. His breaths were short and ragged, and loud. He sounded like he was drowning.

His own pain forgotten, Gaara knelt down and picked up the small, blonde boy in his arms, calling on strength he hadn`t known he possessed. Naruto's eyes rolled forward, a small sliver of pupil showing through his half-closed eyelids, only semi-conscious. He made a sound, like he was trying to groan, but it came out as a near soundless breath. Listening closely, Gaara could hear the blood that filled his lungs as he fought for every small breath.

Ignoring the screams of his brother that so perfectly mirrored his own, Gaara walked out his room, towards the back entrance, away from his father, who would surely kill Naruto if he saw him. Gaara's own breathing got shorter and more ragged as it became harder and harder to hear the breaths of the boy in his arms. His lips and fingertips were already blue from the asphyxia. _Please Naruto, _he prayed, as the boy`s kept getting weaker and weaker, _just hang on._

Ixea: wow, intense

Rishkaana: Yep ^-^

Gaara: Rish, it ALMOST sounds like you enjoyed that

Rishkaana: *Looks around*

Ixea: well I was on the edge of my seat… I knew what was ganna happen

Gaara: how so……

Ixea: *Hides* I umm, helped create the plot

Gaara: oh…

Rishkaana: Well I guess it's off to chapter 3…

Ixea: yeah… byee for now


	3. Chapter 3

Ixea: yay chapter 3!!!

Rishkaana: yeah with little help hmph

Ixea: sorry

Gaara: Is naruto going to be okay

Rishkaana: i think so

Naruto: please be nice to me

Ixea & Rishkaana: NOO!!

Naruto: why? *pouts*

Gaara: well neither of them own us sooo they can do what ever

Ixea: *Evil smile*

Rishkaana: *Bigger Evil smile*

Gaara: ahh crap... ...

Ixea & Rishkaana: enjoy chapter 3 *Muahaha*

Naruto & Gaara: o_O

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Two men wearing white coats stood over him, their forms blurred in the bright light coming from the ceiling. One of them, noticing he was awake, looked down and smiled kindly. "Glad to have you back, Naruto." The other one reached over and pulled a tube out from his throat and mouth, causing him to choke. They quickly replaced the breathing tube with an oxygen mask.

"What happened?" Naruto heard his own voice and frowned; it didn't sound like his at all, scratchy and weak, almost inaudible.

"Pneumonia and panic attacks aren't a good mix," the first doctor said wryly. "You're lucky your friend got you here when he did."

_Friend,_ Naruto thought confusedly. _Who...?_

And then it all came rushing back.

_... cream walls seemed to go on forever, towards the back of the estate and up to the mile-high ceiling... "You actually live here?..._

_... an old, dusty picture sitting on the desk beside the bed... no one had said anything about Gaara having a sister..._

_... Gaara, sitting on the desk, green eyes unexpectedly sparkling, a big grin on his face... Gaara had joined Naruto in the laughter..._

_...Panic...fear..._

_Gaara's cries of pain seared into his soul._

_Gaara, _he thought, looking around the room agitatedly for the redhead. Before he even knew that he had started to get up, the doctors were pushing him back down again. "You need to stay right where you are."

"But..."

"No butts. You're too sick to do anything but stay in bed," the doctor said forcefully, and Naruto reluctantly listened, relaxing back into the hospital bed with a small pout that the doctor smiled at.

The doctor started to explain the equipment he was hooked up to, but Naruto stopped him. "It's ok," he said, "I've spent enough time in hospitals to know what it all does. I'm sure you have other patients to look after; go see to them. I'll be sure to call if I need anything." The doctor seemed slightly taken aback at being ordered around so calmly by his patients, but just smiled and nodded, and followed his partner out the door.

Naruto hadn't been alone in his hospital room for two seconds before his father came rushing in. "Naruto," he exclaimed, hurrying to his son's side. "Are you ok?

"Yes, dad, I'm fine," Naruto replied sarcastically, "that's why I'm in the hospital."

Minato didn't even bother commenting on his son's sarcasm. "Are you getting the headaches again? Fevers? Exhaustion?"

"No, dad." Naruto tried to push his father's hand away from his forehead, which was examining the bruise Naruto had gotten when he had tripped and hit his head on Gaara's bedpost.

"That's a pretty bad bruise..."

"That's because I hit my head pretty hard."

"You're awful pale..."

"Dad," Naruto's tone of voice made Minato stop his rambling. "It's pneumonia. Just pneumonia. I'm not relapsing."

"Are you sure..."

"Yes! Besides," Naruto looked away from his father, "they said I'd have another three years before..." Naruto's voice trailed off.

"That's just an estimate, their best guess. Naruto," Minato ran his shaking fingers through his golden hair. "I don't want to lose you."

Naruto looked up, surprised at the tremor in his father's voice, and was shocked at what he saw. The usual sparkling eyes and wide grin were nowhere to be found. Minato's skin was as pale as Naruto's, if not paler. His eyes were red, and his whole body was shaking. Naruto forced himself to look away from Minato, fighting to suppress the rising nausea. His father never got upset about anything, never let anything faze him. Even when Naruto was sick and spent all that time in the hospital, he could always count on his dad to bring the sunshine in. The only time Naruto had ever seen his father sad was when his mother died.

Finally seeing the distress that his father was in, Naruto bit back the words he had been about to say.

_You don't really have a choice in the matter._

**********

Gaara sat at the foot of the stairs beside his brother's broken body, head in his hands. He'd been sitting there for the past hour, waiting for Kankuro to wake up. He wasn't strong enough to carry him all the way up the stairs, and he wasn't going to get any help. Gaara glared at the servants, who wouldn't so much as look their way. Some had already begun to clean up the blood stains that covered the carpet. The servants employed in the Subaku household were paid well to not see what went on between Kaz and his sons.

_Why? Why do you have to protect me? Why can't you look out for yourself for once? Why won't you let _me_ protect_ you_?_

'_It's our job to protect you, silly. That's what older siblings are supposed to do.' _Gaara's eyes widened unintentionally as his sister's voice echoed through the chambers of his mind, crystal clear even though it was only a memory. Gaara bit his lip in an effort to stop the oncoming tears, thinking in bitterness, _Who was there to protect you?_

His attention turned back to his brother as he started to stir. His eyes cracked open. "Hey kid," he whispered, the loudest sound he could manage. His face and ash-brown hair were drenched in sweat, and his eyes were threatening to roll back into his head in unconsciousness.

Gaara gave Kankuro a relieved smirk. If he was calling him kid, he was ok. More or less.

Kankuro took in a deep, shaky breath. "That guy you brought over. Is he ok?"

Gaara's averted his eyes, and Kankuro noticed a slight blush rising on his little brother's face. "Naruto? Yeah, the doctors said he'd be ok."

"Doctors?"

"Yeah," Gaara said, putting Kankuro's arm over his shoulder, helping him up. "He had a panic attack or something, but he's ok."

Kankuro hissed in pain as he stood up, and was heavily favouring his right side. The two started up the spiral staircase, climbing at a painstakingly slow pace. Kankuro was gasping in pain by the time they got to the top; Gaara could barely hold him up. He could feel his older brother black out a couple of times going up the stairs, but he would become conscious again after a second, and Gaara was able to hold him up. The pain from his own wounds was starting to cloud his vision, but he pushed it aside as best he could.

The two entered Gaara's room, and Kankuro collapsed onto his little brother's bed. Gaara pulled out scissors and bandages from one of his cupboards, and began to cut off the tatters that used to be Kankuro's shirt. He had to bite his lip to stop the bile that was rising in his throat when he saw the slashes across his brother's chest. Gaara turned away from the bed to get his head straight. Instead, he found his eyes wandering to the picture sitting on his desk, the one of him, his brother, and his sister. _Temari, _Gaara thought sadly. _Why?_

Kankuro looked over at his brother; he could see the sadness in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said after a few seconds.

"For what," he asked, knowing what Kankuro meant, but wanting to avoid having to say it out loud.

"Everything I suppose." Kankuro sighed, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere in trying to comfort his little brother. "None of what happened to us, to Temari..." He sighed as Gaara flinched at the sound of her name. "None of what has happened is your fault."

The brothers were silent for a long time after, while Gaara finished patching up Kankuro. "Kankuro," Gaara said with discomfort, after debating whether or not to break the silence, "Thanks."

Avoiding the reluctant thank-you, but unable to keep a smile from creeping onto his lips, Kankuro slowly rose, enough to look his brother in the eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

Kankuro knew better than to believe him. "Show me," he commanded, forcing Gaara to lift up his shirt, revealing their father's handiwork. Black and red burn marks marred his chest; some were already starting to puss. With some, the outer layers of skin had been completely burnt off, leaving the muscle underneath visible, which had already been charred from the heat of the white-hot metal. Others had swelled up with the puss developing underneath, turning yellow and white. One of the wounds had split open in several places; the puss was oozing out and running down Gaara's chest. His skin didn't look like skin anymore, maybe more like something you would throw up after a night of binge drinking.

Kankuro sighed. "Sit," he told his brother, who meekly obeyed, letting his brother clean and bandage the burns. He had been so badly burned that he hardly felt any of it. However, it still occupied almost all his attention, and a small smirk and mischievous glint in Kankuro's eyes almost went unnoticed.

"That boy, Naruto," he started, "he's the first friend of yours I've seen in a while." At the mention of Naruto, Gaara's face paled; a small red tint to his cheeks was the only colour seen. Kankuro's smirk got a little bigger.

"You like him." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, he's ok," Gaara replied absently.

"Nuh-no. You _liiiiike _him."

Gaara started to turn red as he caught on to his brother's meaning. "I do not!"

Kankuro couldn't help but laugh, which made Gaara turn even redder. "Aww," Kankuro mocked, "why you blushing if you don't _liiiiiike _him?"

Gaara mumbled a few inaudible words, which just fuelled Kankuro's laughter. Gaara punched him lightly in the side. "Owwww," he howled, his laughter turning to near-hysterics. Gaara couldn't help but join in, both boys' injuries forgotten.

**********

"Naruto, you're back!"

Gaara looked up from his work at Kiba's exclamation, seeing the blonde slowly walk through the door of the classroom. He quickly looked down again, not wanting his evident relief and growing blush to be announced to the world. _Kankuro, you're dead, _Gaara thought, unable to get his brothers words out of his head. _"You _liiiiiike _him!" _His brother's taunts whispered repeatedly in his mind while he listened to the conversation happening in front of him.

"Hey I heard you were in the hospital."

"Umm, yeah."

"What happened?"

"You look like shit."

Gaara could feel Naruto's eyes on him. "Uh, I had pneumonia, and, I couldn't breathe. They had to put me on a ventilator."

"I _told _you you should have gone to the doctors!"

"Alright class, back to your seats," Kakashi sensei ordered the students swarming around Naruto. "Glad to have you back, Naruto."

The boy nodded shyly, walking to the back of the room and taking his seat across from Gaara, the same seat that he had in social studies. Gaara immediately looked the other way; he couldn't look Naruto in the eyes, not after all that had happened. _He must hate me._

When he turned back to the desk, Gaara noticed a note sitting on top of his work. _**Hey, how you holding up?**_

Gaara sneaked a glance over at the blonde sitting beside him, but Naruto was too busy staring at his books to notice. _**Fine, I guess**_, he quickly jotted down, passing the note back to Naruto.

_**Oh, it's just I haven't talked to you since... that day.**_

_**Please don't mention that. **_Naruto looked up and saw Gaara pleading with his eyes to drop the subject. But as he looked away, Gaara knew that Naruto wouldn't drop the subject.

_**Why don't you do something? Call the cops? Child abuse is illegal, you know!**_

Gaara paused for a moment, watching his hand shaking as he remembered Temari. _**We've tried. **_

Naruto's only response was a big question mark. Gaara sighed, writing the words down as fast as he could, trying not to let them touch him. _**We've tried going to the police, but father just makes the accusations go away. He owns one of the largest companies in Japan, he can make anything disappear, **_Gaara added as an afterthought. _**We've tried everything.**_

_**It's not so bad**_, Gaara continued on a new piece of paper. _**He doesn't do it much anymore. And he's hardly ever home. Just please don't say anything.**_

Naruto nodded after reading what Gaara had written, though he didn't look happy about it. He started to write something else down, but was interrupted by the bell. "Hey Naruto, you coming," Kiba asked from the other side of the room. Taking advantage of the distraction, Gaara started to slip away, heading towards the back door. He still didn't particularly want to have to face the blonde.

Before he could get anywhere, though, Gaara found himself trapped in an embrace by the short blonde boy. Gaara felt his face start to turn red again as the classroom suddenly went silent, though it definitely wasn't from embarrassment. "Thank you," Naruto said softly.

"Naruto..."

Gaara found his protests ignored, and was suddenly staring into cerulean eyes. "You saved my life." He spoke so softly, but the room was silent, and everyone could hear his words.

The complete silence held as Naruto let go of his embrace on Gaara and left the room, a huge smile on his face. Gaara, on the other hand, was as red as his hair and speechless, and had everyone's eyes on him. He didn't realize until after Naruto had let go of him that his stomach was doing flip-flops. His eyes followed the blonde out of the room; or rather followed his ass...

"_You _liiiiike _him."_

_Kankuro's right. I _do _like him._

Gaara: *blushes*

Naruto: o_O

Ixea & Rishkaana: *evil giggles*

Ixea: ok loyal readers we have a task for you...

Rishkaana: Contest time! *does happy dance*

Ixea: so by now you've all realized Naruto is sick. And if you haven't realized, Naruto is sick. And if you can guess what he has...

Rishkaana: We'll send you an e-cake!

Ixea: The cake is a lie.

Rishkaana: The cake is not a lie.

Ixea: The cake is a lie.

Rishkaana: Fine! The cake is a lie.

Ixea: If you can guess what Naruto has, you'll get a choice of what you want to see in the next chapter!

Rishkaana: We'll have a few options for you to choose from, but if you have anything you'd really like to see, we'll do our best to incorporate it.

Gaara: why are they getting to deside that???

Naruto: thats a good question

Ixea: hehe cause we can

Rishkaana: And I'll give you all a hint as to what the answer is. When Naruto gets sicker {and he will get sicker} he's gonna be losing his hair. {snickers evilly}

Naruto: HEY WHAT!!! *pouts* i like my hair YOU CANT DO THAT... well i guess you can... *pouts*

Ixea and Rishkaana: first one to get it right wins!

Rishkaana: and if I can figure out how to send the winner an e-cake, i will!

Naruto to Gaara: i dont want to lose my hair

Ixea: oh suck it up princeess

Rish: haha, you got called a girl!!!

Naruto: SHUT UP!!!

Rish: make me

Gaara: while they are fighting i guess i will have to say bye *sigh* i really hate people. but byee

{holy that got really long}


	4. THE CAKE IS A LIE!

Ixea: HEHEHE  
Rishkaana: HEHE  
Gaara: whats with all the *hehe*  
Rishkaana: the cake is a lie!!!  
Naruto: Why is the cake a lie?  
Ixea: its the name of the chapter  
Gaara & Naruto: o_O okay then... ... ...  
Naruto: what does that have to do with this story?  
Ixea: nothing  
Rishkaana: we don't own this anime soooo... we can be as random as we want  
Gaara: well that makes sence  
Naruto: I DONT GET IT  
everyone but Naruto: -_-' dum ass!!!  
Ixea & Rishkaana: now on to chapter 4: The Cake Is a Lie

**Rishkaana A/N: Sorry this took so long guys, this was a hell of a chapter to write, and Ixea's been really busy with her brother's wedding and all. *sigh* Who's bright idea was it to start a co-authored fanfic with their best friend the day before she moves 7 hours away?! Oh right, mine. **

_**{Fun fact: It is a common misconception that in Canada, distance is measured in kilometres. In reality, Canadians measure distance in hours**__****__**}**_

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Gaara found his protests ignored, and was suddenly staring into cerulean eyes. "You saved my life." He spoke so softly, but the room was silent, and everyone could hear his words.

The complete silence held as Naruto let go of his embrace on Gaara and left the room, a huge smile on his face. He got a quick glimpse of Gaara as he left the classroom; his stomach started to flutter at the sight of the fiery red hair.

"Hey, Naruto," he heard Kiba shout behind him, and he stopped to let the stunned boy catch up. "He...wha... I'm so confused."

Shikamaru and Choji had also come up behind him, their mouths wide open in shock. All three of Naruto's friends were speechless. He found himself frantically searching for a reasonable answer. "Well, I was at his house and I stopped breathing, and he...well...yeah," he finished lamely.

"Hey, Naruto," another voice came up behind him, mercifully saving him from the vultures surrounding him, silently begging for more information. "Wow, you seem awfully cheerful today, especially for just getting out of the hospital," she commented, his ear-to-ear grin impossible to miss.

"Oh, hey Sakura," he replied, "yeah, today's a good day." He noticed the bemused expression on her face, but didn't bother to ponder it.

"So, wanna hang out after school?" Naruto felt like he was being pounced on. "I can help you get caught up on all the stuff you missed."

"Uh, ok." Naruto didn't know Sakura that well; she was the pink-haired girl always sitting at the front of the class and knew all the answers, though she was pretty friendly with everyone. He couldn't help but wonder why she had taken a sudden interest in him. _Could she..._

Sakura looked like she was about to say something, but her eyes were drawn over Naruto's shoulder, her eyes glazing over and her mouth hanging open in girlish wonder. Without a doubt, Sasuke had rounded the corner. _Never mind._

Naruto grinned some more, turning towards the rest of his friends, leaving Sakura to drool over the Uchiha boy she coveted so. "I'll see you after school then," he called to her, making his way to his next class.

**********

"No, I'm not eating ramen, we're going for sushi!"

"But..." Seeing a glint of anger-fuelled fire, Naruto wisely backed off. "Ok," he said meekly. "We'll go for sushi."

In a flash, Sakura's angry glare was replaced with a sweet, innocent smile. "Well, if you insist." Naruto lowered his head, soundly defeated. The two walked in silence for a bit, passing by a myriad of shops and a multitude of people. The streets were brimming with the lives of the city. They all seemed to be talking with someone; a friend beside them, or into a cell phone, and the silence that stretched between Naruto and Sakura felt infinitely long and weighted. He had to wonder what the purpose of them 'hanging out' was if all there was between them was dead air.

"Here we are," Sakura said brightly as they came upon a small, yet very brightly lit sushi bar. Dull cream-coloured walls were offset by bright red flooring and banners of the same colour. Tacky green leather covered the seats of the booth they sat in. As Naruto was staring at the slips of paper on the table, he noticed Sakura was scanning the room anxiously. As he lifted his head to ask her what the problem was, she jumped out of her seat, arm waving frantically in the air, a goofy smile plastered on her face. "Hey, Kankuro, over here!"

Naruto turned around to see a sullen, sulking Gaara, accompanied by his older brother, wearing a grin to match Sakura's. Naruto barely noticed Kankuro, though. He only had eyes for Gaara. Sex hair, tight black shirt that outlined every muscle, spiky belt, tight black jeans...

_I think I'm melting._

Naruto was forced back to reality by Sakura, reaching over the table to flick his forehead. "Owww, that was my forehead!"

A slight grin ghosted across Gaara's face, but was gone long before anyone other than Naruto noticed it, replaced with his trademark grimace. Kankuro had slid in next to Sakura, so the only free seat at the 4 four-person table for Gaara was beside Naruto. He sat down next to the blond, the colour starting to rise in his cheeks as he turned away, staring down into the aisle.

Sakura and Kankuro shared a grin that was missed by the two boys sitting across from them. "Ok, how bout," Sakura voiced as she looked over the order slips, "two sunomono, three kappa rolls, crunchy California rolls, sashimi, and two rice bowls. Oh, and meso soup?"

"Why only two rice bowls," Naruto asked.

"Oh, Kankuro and I aren't very hungry," she answered, and Naruto had to wonder when the two of them had time to discuss their food choices with each other. Without leaving room for further discussion, Sakura handed the order slips to a passing waitress, and jumped as a computerized ringtone started playing from under the table. She pulled a cell phone out of her pocket, saying to the boys at the table, "I'll be back in a bit, alright," while flipping it open and rushing out the door of the restaurant.

Both Gaara and Naruto stared at Kankuro as his cell phone started beeping as well. He grinned sheepishly as he pulled the phone out of his pocket, standing up. "I'll be a few minutes too, guys." Kankuro rushed out the same way Sakura had just left seconds before, leaving Naruto and Gaara alone in each other's company.

Gaara glanced sideways at the blond, letting the awkward silence hang between them. "Umm, so..." Naruto's attempt to break the tension had only seemed to make it worse. He sighed, Gaara's stony expression making it clear he had no intentions of joining the boy in small talk, and turned to stare out the window.

Sakura's pink hair was like a beacon through the dirty, smudged window. She was standing on the sidewalk; or rather, drooling all over the sidewalk. Naruto leaned over onto the table to get a better glimpse of what she was staring at, though he had a pretty good idea of who it was already.

Sure enough, it was Sasuke who was rounding the corner. Naruto glared through the glass as he watched Sakura, cell phone nowhere in sight, chase down the street after the dark-haired heartthrob, completely oblivious to the icy glares he was sending her way. "What a jerk," he mumbled into the window pane.

"Hmm?" Gaara had a feeling that he already knew who Naruto was talking about, but looked anyways.

"Sasuke," Naruto spat in annoyance. "What an ass..."

All the words that followed zoomed over Gaara's head. There were so many of them! He'd only heard maybe twenty words come out of the blond's mouth since they met. He'd just exceeded that times a hundred! A healthy flush graced Naruto's cheeks as minutes passed, minutes of straight talking. Gaara's amazement only grew with the time that the blond had yet to keel over from lack of oxygen.

Naruto stopped in mid-word as he finally picked up on Gaara's shock. "Is something the matter?"

It took a second for Gaara to gather his thoughts, as they had just been thrown haphazardly about the room by Naruto's incessant chatter. "When did you learn how to talk?"

There was a pause, and Gaara worried that he had offended the boy, but relaxed when Naruto started to laugh. And then the laughter stopped, leaving another awkward silence between them. Naruto was staring out the window again, seemingly retreated back into his shell of shyness. "That doesn't suit you," Gaara's words ended up coming out in a grumble.

"What doesn't?"

Gaara dug his nails into his arm, trying to fight the blush rising in his cheeks. "I mean, you, you look a lot better, when you're talking like that..." _Fuck, why did I even open my mouth?!_

Naruto turned away from the window, thinking about what Gaara had just said. "Yeah, I'd ramble on like this all the time," Naruto answered, almost apologetically, "but, I dunno, some things happened last year, I just haven't felt like talking. Not till now anyways," he added, brightening up.

Gaara felt the warmth of that smile all the way through his body. "Well, it's good to hear your voice."

Another awkward silence was looming overhead, something Naruto desperately wanted to avoid. "Ok then I'll just talk about nothing." And he did exactly that until the food came. Naruto couldn't help but pout as the sushi was laid out in front of them. Gaara gave him a questioning glance.

"I would have much preferred ramen."

Gaara grabbed a kappa roll with his chopsticks. "You like ramen I suppose?"

"Mmhm," Naruto could only mumble as he started shoving the sushi down his throat.

Gaara's jaw dropped as Naruto finished his food in under a minute. "Did you even taste that? How are you not choking?"

"No gag reflex," he said through the last bite of his food. Suddenly realizing what he had said, Naruto's face turned bright red, and he automatically started down at the table, missing Gaara's slight grin.

A few more minutes passed while Gaara finished his food and Naruto continued to ramble. "Naruto," Gaara interrupted quietly, hesitant to break the boy's word flow, "can I ask you something?"

Naruto, who was still staring down at the table, looked up and turned to face the redhead, his heart starting to pump faster when he noticed how close the two were. He leaned in a little closer. "Yes?"

"I..." The question had fled from Gaara's mind, sent running by the azure fire that flared in the eyes before him. His heart skipped a beat as Naruto leaned in even closer, soft lips locking with his own in a gentle kiss. A few seconds passed, and their lips parted as they held their gaze on each other. Naruto was bright red underneath his tanned skin; Gaara couldn't help but laugh, though it came out as more of a giggle. Naruto seemed not to notice. "I..." he stuttered, "I'm so-"

Gaara wouldn't let him finish the apology; he couldn't let Naruto regret what he'd done. Putting a hand on the back of his head, Gaara pulled Naruto in, returning the kiss with one of his own.

"Um, excuse me?" The two boys quickly parted as a very flustered waitress stepped in behind them, handing Gaara the bill. "I suppose we'd better get going," Gaara said reluctantly, pulling his wallet out. Naruto nodded.

"Hey whatever happened to Sakura and Kankuro?"

"Probably off somewhere rejoicing at their brilliant scheme."

"Huh?"

"They set us up," Gaara explained, mock-venom dripping from his voice.

"Oh." Gaara and Naruto stood up from their table, and Naruto promptly grabbed Gaara's hand as they started walking towards the door. "Well I'm glad they did."

"Yeah. Me too."

They hadn't even set two feet outside the sushi bar when Sakura and Kankuro rounded the corner, coming face to face with the pair. For a long moment, Sakura just stared at the two, openly holding hands in public. Then her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Haha!!!" All three of the boys in her company were taken aback by her sudden shout, accompanied by much jumping and dancing.

After it seemed that the screams of endless happiness really were going to be endless, Kankuro, with a contented sigh, put his hand on top of the shorter girl's head, bringing an abrupt end to the victory dance. "I think that's enough excitement for one day, we should be getting home."

The four of them walked together towards the Subaku household, Kankuro and Sakura in the lead with their friendly chatter, leaving Naruto and Gaara behind them to walk in joyful complacency. The two brothers left Sakura and Naruto at the beginning of their block. Naruto gave Gaara a quick hug before breaking away to catch up to Sakura. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Hey Sakura." The pink-haired girl looked back as Naruto jogged up to walk beside her. "Thank you," he said awkwardly, though not as awkwardly as he would have an hour ago.

Sakura beamed. "Anytime. Besides," she said in afterthought, "it'll really do Gaara some good."

"Hmm?" Naruto looked at Sakura questioningly.

She half-smiled and stared off into the distance, eyes glazed in thought. "I didn't really know Gaara until a few years ago. He had always been getting into trouble, fighting and stuff. He put Sasuke in the hospital once. The school was ready to expel him.

"But then his sister died. After that, he stopped fighting, just got really quiet. Nobody else seemed to care, or even notice. I wanted to help," she said sadly, "but there wasn't anything I could do."

"His sister. How did she die?"

Sakura looked over at him in surprise, like she'd forgotten he was there. "I dunno," she answered. "Neither Gaara or Kankuro will talk about it.

"Well," she said reluctantly, "this is my house. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Naruto nodded, and Sakura turned away and walked away leaving Naruto on his own. Being in such a good mood, he decided to skip the rest of the way home, earning him a few odd looks from passers-by.

As Naruto blew through the door to his own house, he found himself stopped in his path by the aftermath of an explosion. Or at least that's what it looked like had happened in the kitchen. "Dad, what did you do..."

Minato poked his head around the wall separating the kitchen and living room. "Nothing," he replied guiltily, expecting to see his son yelling at him or sighing in disgust. Instead, he found himself picking his jaw up off the flour-covered floor as Naruto, a big grin on his face, grabbed a cloth from the sink and began to clean.

_Only one thing could put a guy in such a mood he's willing to clean._

"So," Minato asked his son, "when do I get to meet her?"

Naruto shook his head, the grin not diminishing in the slightest. "Him," he replied quietly, turning his back to his father.

"_Him?!_" There was a pause. "Ok, when do I get to meet _him?_"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Sakura: YAY!!!

Gaara: not again...

Rish & Ixea: YAY WE ARE DONE THIS CHAPTER!!!

Naruto: i liked that.

Ixea: me too... but do you know what im ganna like more???

Rish: the next chapter?

Ixea: YEP!!!

Gaara: im tired... night

Naruto: nighty night

Ixea: dont you want to hear whats in the next chapter

Naruto: fine

Rish: LEMON!!!!!

Sakura: YAY!!!

Naruto & Gaara: not again...


	5. Chapter 5

Ixea: *sigh*

Rish: too hot...

Naruto: yes he is...

Gaara: ... *Blush*

Rish: hehe

Gaara: why do you do this to me?

Ixea: cause we dont own you

Rish: or the anime you were once originaly from

Naruto: pfft, i like my life here better

Ixea: ME TOO...

Naruto: whats that mean

Ixea: you will see...

Naruto: when do we get to know?

Rish: this chapter

Gaara: i dont like that tone

Rish and Ixea: , on to chapter 5

_**{Fun Fact: In the north (more north than us, anyways) people will leave their cars running all night when they go out to the bar, cause if they don't, the car will never start again. And nobody steals them. I am saying this because it is 35 degrees outside and am desperately pining for snow}**_

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Naruto's eyes shot open, propelling himself out of his plagued sleep. His arm automatically reached out to hit the snooze button on his alarm clock, though this morning it took some conscious thought. His whole body felt like lead, and Naruto absently wondered if he had forgot to breathe during his nightmare.

He closed his eyes, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof. _How fitting,_ Naruto thought bitterly, _even the Heavens are crying._

Naruto debated rolling over and going back to sleep. His father wouldn't make him go to school today; Naruto wasn't sure if he could handle school today. But Minato would need some time alone, and Naruto had no other place he could go besides school.

There were no pots clashing or creative swearing that morning. Naruto doubted his father had even gotten out of bed yet. The blond sat quietly at the kitchen table, listening to the rain as he ate. Not bothering to grab the umbrella, which was sitting right beside the door within reach, Naruto took one last look at the picture on the mantle, and left the house.

**********

Gaara had yet to speak to Naruto that morning, but he could already tell that something was wrong. Ever since they had hooked up two weeks ago, Naruto had changed; the bubbly persona that had taken hold at the sushi bar seemed to have stayed for good. He wasn't the shy, introverted boy he had been stuck with at the beginning of the school year anymore, for which Gaara was extremely thankful.

Today, he was back to his withdrawn ways, but worse. The blond didn't even look up from his biology textbook as Gaara rushed into the classroom late. Keeping one eye on his blond boyfriend, Gaara sat in his seat on the opposite side of the classroom, hurriedly scribbling down the notes Tsunade-sensei was giving them.

"The 'proto' part of the proto-oncogene is like the brake system for cell growth; the proteins it codes for keep the cell division under control. But when you get an oncogene..."

Naruto kept his head bowed, shoulders slumped defensively, and was trying to block out Tsunade-sensei's lesson. _Of all the things we could be learning about, all the millions of things in biology, we had to do this today!_

"Another thing you lose is contact inhibition." Tsunade-sensei paused, racking her brain for an analogy. "Ok, you're sitting on the bleachers, and you scoot down along the row, and keep going down until you hit somebody. Now a normal person, when they come in contact with that somebody, they stop moving. That's contact inhibition.

"Now cancer cells don't have that contact inhibition; they keep scooting down along the bleachers and just push everyone off the end..."

Naruto, his head still bowed, eyes shaded by his hair, stood up, and with a mumbled, "excuse me," rushed out of the classroom. Gaara had a sinking feeling about the blond's behaviour, and with another mumbled apology to the teacher, rushed out after his boyfriend.

He found Naruto outside, huddled against the exterior of the building, shivering in the pouring rain. Gaara suspected, though, that he wasn't shivering because it was cold outside. "Naruto?" Gaara's soft question startled the quivering boy, coaxing him into a warm embrace. Gaara closed his eyes as he hugged Naruto, doing his best to silently will the anxiety out of the both of them. "What's wrong?"

Naruto didn't answer for the longest time. His breaths were becoming regular again, instead of ragged and panicked. He breathed in deeply, and pulled away from the redhead. "I'm ok," he said, his voice steady. "I'm sorry."

"Naruto, please," Gaara begged. He gripped Naruto's chin and pulled his head around, forcing Naruto to look him in the eyes. "Please. Tell me what's wrong."

Naruto pulled out of Gaara's grasp, a small, reflexive smile coming to his lips that didn't have his eyes behind it. He let out a heavy sigh. "Today," he said in a small voice, "it's the first anniversary of my mother's death."

The only thing that came to Gaara's mind was, "oh." As Naruto turned away from him, he wrapped his arms around the other's waist. "You wanna talk?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I wanna forget."

Gaara understood. "Nobody's home at my place, maybe we should go there. Or you could go home. But you shouldn't stay at school." He wasn't sure how 'his place' would go over with Naruto, considering the last experience he had had there wasn't a very pleasant one.

_...__father neared him again, the end of the metal poker glowing orange with heat.__ "Don't talk back to me, boy.__"__He pressed the metal fire poker into the flesh on Gaara's chest_...

_...__Gaara opened the door to his room and his heart stopped. Naruto was lying unconscious at his feet, a pool of blood spreading from his lips__..._

Naruto nodded reluctantly. "I wanted to give my dad some time alone, maybe your place would be better."

Naruto's surprising words brought Gaara back to reality. "Well then," he said, turning Naruto around, "In that case, I promise it'll be worth your while." He delivered a quick kiss, caressing Naruto's tongue with his own before drawing back and smiling in satisfaction as a bit of the sparkle returned to Naruto's azure eyes.

********** (you know what's comin')

Naruto sat on the floor in front of a massive fireplace. Both he and Gaara had abandoned their shirts, soaking wet from the rain, which Gaara had taken to deposit somewhere. His eyes were closed, so concentrated was he on absorbing the warmth from the fireplace, he didn't notice Gaara come up behind him.

Gaara calmly came up behind Naruto, grabbing him under the chin, pulling his head back, their lips meeting in a kiss. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, then closed in joyful ecstasy. Their kisses got deeper and hotter as the blond gave in to the other, allowing his mouth to be assaulted. Gaara slowly started making his way down Naruto's neck, delighting in the soft skin he was tasting.

Naruto rose, struggling to keep his balance as Gaara started pushing him backwards, slamming him up against the bookshelf. He grabbed Gaara by his shirt collar, pulling him closer. He was so engaged in the redhead that he didn't even realize they had moved to a new, dimly-lit room. Naruto broke away for a second. "Make it good," he pleaded. "I don't want to think of anything else."

Gaara smirked. "You won't be."

Once again, Naruto found himself pressed up against the wall, this time on cold concrete. Gaara's hands were deliberately making their way up his body, grabbing hold of his wrists, forcing his arms above his head and locking him into cold metal shackles. Gaara ran his tongue lightly over Naruto's neck, but pulled away when Naruto tried to lean forward, wanting more. Gaara reached up to whisper in Naruto's ear. "Not until I say so. The blond shuddered as a tongue swirled around his ear, far more gentle than he wanted.

Gaara began to work his way down, licking, kissing, and biting Naruto's skin at a torturously slow pace. He took one of the soft nipples in his mouth, sucking gently, letting it harden. Naruto then gasped as Gaara took in a little more skin, biting around the nipple, releasing the pressure a bit so he wouldn't draw blood. Naruto strained against the shackles, clawing at the air. He ached to hold the redhead, to touch and kiss and nip as was being done to him, and the agony of being deprived of that was exhilarating.

Gaara's hands were now down below his waist, sliding into his jeans, unzipping them and sliding them down to his ankles. Kneeling, he grabbed the bright orange boxers with his teeth, pulling them down teasingly. His tongue swirled around the erection, easing the head into his mouth as he sucked hard on the cock. Leaning in, Gaara swallowed Naruto whole, urged onward by the groans coming from above him. Naruto's hips bucked forward; this time, Gaara allowed him the luxury of the skin-on-skin contact his partner so desired. Naruto bit back another groan. "Gaara," he begged, "stop teasing me."

Gaara's hands slowly traced their way back up to the top, sliding up his back, but stopping halfway up. Naruto's protests were swallowed in a forceful kiss, moans echoing through the chambers of their mouths as Gaara's nails raked down Naruto's back. Gaara knew he was more than ready to have Naruto claimed as his own. Reaching up, he undid the shackles that restrained the blond, and the two fell to the ground, Naruto's weight forcing Gaara's spine into the concrete. Gaara rolled the weight over; he was now laying on top of Naruto. Naruto wasted no time in ripping off the redhead's clothes. Gaara held up three fingers for Naruto to suck.

Naruto winced from the pain as Gaara slowly pushed one, then two fingers into the opening, scissoring them to stretch the opening. As Gaara added the third finger, he grazed Naruto's prostate, and the pain was forgotten as he cried out in pleasure. Gaara's other hand rubbed his own cock, slicking it down with pre-cum.

As he went to push his fingers father into Naruto, Gaara's wrist was grabbed forcefully, pulling him out. "Enough stalling," Naruto growled in heated wanting. He grabbed the length, pulling it towards the stretched entrance. Gaara pushed in, giving his partner a moment to adjust before pulling back and slamming in again, hitting the prostate over and over. The blond's screams and moans echoed throughout the room, lingering in the air. The two moaned in unison as they came, Naruto's spilling over their chests, and Gaara's burning itself into Naruto.

Gaara pulled out gently, lying back on the stone floor beside Naruto. They let their panting fill up the silence. The blond relaxed back onto the floor.

"Ow."

The space was suddenly filled with laughter.

**********

The rain was still coming down in all its fury, and thunder and lightning decided to add themselves to the mix. Gaara kicked open the door to his room, two steaming tea cups in his hands. He handed one of the cups to Naruto, who was sitting on the bed, his back against the wall, and sat down on the bed beside him.

"Gaara?" Gaara looked up from his tea cup at Naruto. "Is that your sister?"

He followed Naruto's gaze to a picture sitting on the desk. "Yeah, that's Temari."

"Sakura said she died."

Gaara looked out the window, and as the lightning split the sky, so too did the painful memories split his heart.

Naruto, seeing Gaara's eyes instantly cloud over, uttered a rushed apology. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"No, it's ok." Gaara moved closer to the blond, the warmth emanating from the boy giving him the courage to speak.

"My mother died giving birth to me." Gaara held up a hand to hush Naruto's doleful apology. "My father blamed me for it; he'd beat me almost every night he was home. Some nights I thought he was going to take it too far, but Kankuro and Temari were always there to take the hits for me. They were always trying to protect me, said it's what mom would have wanted."

Naruto's hands traced over Gaara's scars. There had to have been hundreds of them; there was more scar tissue on his chest then there was normal skin. Most of them were old, a few were still slightly red; and then there were the burns, still bright and fresh. Naruto was careful not to touch those. He wanted to be sick; how could anyone do that? To their child no less!

"There was one night..." Naruto's fingers stopped as he started intently at Gaara's pained face. "I woke up, and I was tied to the bed, and father was there, he held a knife in front of my face, called me a monster, said he was gonna rape me with the knife..." Gaara couldn't stop now even if he tried; the floodgates had opened, and the words were pouring out of him like the rain poured out of the sky outside. "And Temari just came out of nowhere, she tried to pull him off me, but he lashed back, and hit her with the knife, he didn't mean to, he just wanted to scare her away, he took her to the hospital, but she was dead before they got there."

Gaara's face was wet from the tears, and Naruto reached up to brush them away. "He doesn't hit me very much anymore, he stays away from me, only when he's had a really bad day will he... And Kankuro's always there to take it for me, he's got more scars than I do."

Naruto put his arms around Gaara as the words finally stopped pouring out. They sat just listening to the rain, both of them lost in memories of their own.

"Two years ago I was diagnosed with leukemia." Gaara looked down at Naruto; the words were so quiet, if he hadn't seen his lips moving, he would have thought it was his imagination. "I wasn't doing so good for a while," he continued, "and they needed to give me a bone marrow transplant. My mom was a match.

"But when they were doing the transplant, she had a bad reaction to the anesthesia, and the doctors were so worried about how I was doing they didn't notice till it was too late..."

Naruto had been slowly curling himself up into a tighter and tighter ball; Gaara placed his arms around Naruto's shoulders, trying to offer some measure of comfort to the grieving boy. Before he could offer his condolences, Naruto was speaking again, and his words made Gaara's heart stop.

"I didn't take to the chemo very well, the doctors, they said that I should have about three years before I relapse, and when I relapse...

"I'll die."

Gaara's grip automatically tightened, as if Naruto would be taken away from him that very second. "She gave her whole life, for three years of mine. It's..." Naruto choked. "It's not fair." A single tear rolled down the boy's cheek, and was caught by Gaara's hand. The two, finding nothing more to say, could only sit in silent company, as the heavens cried for them.


	6. Three cheers for rain!

Ixea: that was sadder then i thought it would be

Naruto: yea it was *pouts*

Rish: suck it up you two

Ixea & Naruto: fine

Ixea: gaara your really quiet

Gaara: yea i am.. why was that chapter so sad

Rish: we dont own you so we can make it as sad as we want

Naruto: pfft thats not fun

Ixea: yea it is

Gaara: how is sadness fun?

Rish: we have our ways muahaha

Ixea: sounds good, well here is the next chapter

Naruto: this one better not be sad

Rish: oh nowhere near sad 

_**Rish A/N: Really glad they got the forest fire under control, I was starting to worry that we might be put on evacuation alert! At least, I think it's under control...**_

_**Oh, and I forgot to thank Gaelic741 for helping us with the lemon last chapter, so , THANK YOU :)**_

_**And the song in this chapter is 'I Could Not Ask for More' I believe the original songwriter was Edwin McCain.**_

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey, Naruto!" Naruto turned around to see the pink-haired firecracker chasing after him down the hallway. He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off before he even had a chance to take in enough breath to speak, let alone say the words. "We're having a bonfire tonight down at the beach, wanna come?"

"Uh, ok, sure," replied Naruto. "Who's 'we'?"

Sakura began counting off names with her fingers. "Me, Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Kiba, Kankuro probably, oh and Gaara's invited too, I haven't gotten around to asking him yet though, could you do that? Oh, and do you have a vehicle, we're short a couple seats, and it's a bit of a drive to the beach."

"Uh, yeah, I can borrow my dad's car."

"Ok great pick me up at my house at 5 gotta run see ya later," she said in a rush, running down the hallway, clutching her books tightly as if they were going to sprout wings and fly away at any instant.

Naruto smiled, moving out of the middle of the hallway and sidling up to his boyfriend. "Good morning." Gaara gave a dignified grunt in reply. "Wanna come to a bonfire tonight?"

Gaara sighed into his locker. "I dunno," he said, but after seeing the disappointment in Naruto's eyes, the answer quickly changed to, "I suppose."

Naruto's hand rested possessively on Gaara's hip. "Come on, it'll be fun. And besides, you need to start hanging out with someone other than me." The redhead muttered an unintelligible grumble, not believing Naruto for a second, but not daring to say so out loud. He couldn't stand to see Naruto sad.

Gaara was pulled into a quick embrace. "It'll be fun, I promise," said the blond, before rushing off to his next class, leaving Gaara with a feeling of dread that this would be one promise Naruto could not keep.

**********

"WATCH THE ROAD," screamed Sakura, and Naruto swerved, narrowly avoiding hitting a semi as he had drifted into the other lane.

Gaara curled up into a ball, his head in his hands. "We're all gonna die."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the redhead's image in the rear-view mirror, making sure to keep his eyes on the road this time. It wasn't his fault, not really. They were all so distracting, Ino and Sakura bickering in the back, not to mention Gaara was back there too, he could stare at Gaara for hours on end. And now, Shikamaru, who was sitting shotgun, was laughing so hard Naruto was sure he was going to burst a vein, which made it even more difficult to concentrate. "If we die," he muttered to himself, "I'm the last one to blame."

Amazingly enough, they managed to make it to the beach without any major loss of life; Naruto was pretty sure he hit a couple of chickens as he sped along the highway, but who cares, they're just chickens. Turning onto the dirt road leading to the beach, per Shikamaru's directions, Naruto winced as he hit pothole after pothole after pothole. In fact, by the time they got to the bonfire site, Shikamaru had hit his head on the car roof twice, after which he decided to put his seatbelt on, and both Ino and Sakura proclaimed that they were getting carsick, complaining that he just _had _to hit every pothole on the f-ing road. **{**_**Ixea**_**: Hey, Naruto drives like you do, Rish. **_**Rish and Naruto**_**: Shut up!}**

Everybody else was already there; Chouji and Shino were lugging a great big log over, presumably for seating purposes, as it was too big to conveniently shove in the firepit that Hinata was digging. Kankuro and Kiba were already sitting on another log...cuddling...

"They're on again," Gaara asked, surprised. "When did that happen?"

"A couple days ago," Sakura answered. "You didn't know?"

"No," he replied defensively.

Naruto looked at Gaara to his right, then Sakura to his left, back to Gaara, back to Sakura, his mouth wide open. "Huh?"

"Kiba and Kankuro have been 'on and off' for about a year now," Sakura explained. Hearing their names, the two boys cuddling on the log turned around and waved hello. Sakura smiled and waved back.

Shikamaru grabbed Gaara by the arm, saying, "I suppose we're off to get firewood," dragging the redhead boy in the direction of the nearby forest.

"Be careful," Kankuro called after them. "There have been some bear sightings around here recently."

Naruto turned his head toward the forest, which already seemed more ominous than it did a second ago. "I don't like bears," he muttered to himself, though it was loud enough for the rest of them to hear.

"Ah, bears won't hurt you, Naruto," Kiba said, "unless it's got cubs. Which," he added thoughtfully, "at this time of year, it probably does..."

"That's alright, Gaara will protect you," Kankuro said between snickers. "Isn't that right, Gaara?"

"Hell no," called Gaara from the edge of the forest. "Every man for himself."

Naruto stuck his tongue out in Gaara's direction, but his heart wasn't really in it. In fact, he was overjoyed that Gaara seemed so comfortable around his group of friends. The gap between Gaara and society was huge. He was always glaring and putting people down, and from what he gathered from Sakura, there were a lot of people still scared of him from when he put Sasuke in the hospital three or four years ago, though truthfully, he was just trying to cover up how awkward he was feeling {Naruto doubted that was the case four years ago however, especially with Sasuke}. After all the crappy experiences he'd had with his family, Naruto was surprised he wasn't downright scared of others. _Maybe, _he thought gleefully as he watched his boyfriend walk out of sight, _I'm starting to rub off on him._

By the time Gaara and Shikamaru had brought back enough firewood to last the group well into the night, all the food had been laid out on the tailgates of Kankuro and Chouji's trucks. Shikamaru was stuck hauling a particularly big piece of driftwood, dragging it in the sand towards the firepit; he didn't have enough strength to get it off the ground, as it was all being used up complaining, though he eventually got some help in the form of Kiba's dog, Akamaru.

By the time night had fallen, all that was left of the food was the marshmallows. Shino had burnt a hole through his shoe, and Kiba and Kankuro had successfully burnt all of the previous year's schoolwork. Ino was trying to cook a JiffyPop, and gave out a little yelp when, instead of popping like it was supposed to, it caught on fire instead. Sakura could not stop laughing. "How do you burn a JiffyPop? How do you make tin foil catch on fire?!" **{all of these are things that we have done at our own bonfires}**

As Sakura's laughter died down, she glanced over at the now non-existent pile of firewood. "I guess I'll go get some more wood."

Hinata also stood up. "Oh, I'll go Sakura," she stated quickly, and took off into the forest behind them. Sakura shrugged. "Well, while I'm up..." She opened the door of Kankuro's truck, pulling out a black guitar case. "Play for us," she ordered Kankuro, handing him the case.

"Only if you're singing."

She sighed. "Yeah, I suppose," she agreed as Kankuro played a few warm-up chords.

"Lying here with you  
Listening to the rain  
Smiling just to see the smile upon your face  
These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive  
These are the moments I'll remember all my life  
I found all I've waited for  
And I could not ask for more  
Looking in your eyes  
Seeing all I need  
Everything you are is everything to me  
These are the moments  
I know heaven must exist  
These are the moments I know all I need is this  
I have all I've waited for  
And I could not ask for more"

Naruto was in awe. Sakura had the most beautiful voice he'd ever heard! Everybody around the fire had huge grins on their faces, and Ino and Shino had pulled out lighters, holding the flames up and swaying with the slow beat of the music. Naruto slid closer to Gaara, wrapping his arms around his shoulders. Gaara looked into the blond's eyes and smiled, resting his head on Naruto's shoulder. The firelight danced in their eyes, though it wasn't the only light to be found there.

"I could not ask for more than this time together  
I could not ask for more than this time with you  
Every prayer has been answered  
Every dream I have's come true  
And right here in this moment is right where I'm meant to be  
Here with you here with me

I could not ask for more than the love you give me  
'Coz it's all I've waited for  
And I could not ask for more"

As the song came to a close, Gaara lifted his head off the blond's shoulder, leaning over to whisper in his ear the last line of the song as Sakura sang it simultaneously.

"I could not ask for more."

A chorus of "awww" rippled through the group as Naruto pulled Gaara into a passionate kiss. Sakura gave a mock sniffle. "You guys are so cute," she said, cracking her voice at the end to make it sound like she was really gonna cry.

A couple more songs were played, and a lot of laughs had passed before Gaara piped up, "you know, Hinata's been gone an awfully long time."

Kiba frowned. "You're right, she should have come back a long time ago."

Gaara stood up, dragging Naruto up with him. "We'll go out to look for her." Shikamaru pulled out a flashlight, handing it to them silently before the two set off into the pitch-black woods.

There was a faint trail through the brush that the two boys followed, Gaara in the lead with the flashlight, Naruto walking behind, calling out for Hinata, scanning the trees on either side of them. All of a sudden, Gaara stopped, stumbling forward as Naruto bumped into him. "Huh, why'd..."

Naruto let his sentence die off with the light of the flashlight. "You've got to be shitting me."

Gaara grumbled, thrusting the useless tool into his jacket pocket. "Figures Shikamaru would give us a dud flashlight. Just stay behind me, ok?"

Naruto nodded, then, realizing that Gaara wouldn't be able to see the motion in the darkness, muttered, "ok." As they continued down the trail, Naruto began cursing himself for his far-too-active imagination. He could swear he heard something big rustling around. Gaara seemed to sense his nervousness. "There's nothing there, Naruto," he said patiently.

"Are you sure? What if it's a bear?"

Gaara sighed. "I'm sure, now keep walking." Naruto just stood there for a moment, listening to Gaara's footsteps in front of him, which were now, thankfully, the only other sounds in the forest besides the crickets.

Naruto took a step forward, forcefully shoving his fear of bears aside. But it all came rushing back as he heard a growling noise up ahead. "Gaara?"

There was no answer.

He called out again, a little louder, and a little more panicked. There was an answer this time, but not the one he wanted to hear. His words were met with more growling of which Naruto was deathly certain was coming from a twenty-tonne, hundred-foot-tall, rabid, evil, man-eating bear. His heart was pounding in his ears, adrenaline clouding his brain. He turned to run back to the fire...

...and shouted out when he was pushed to the ground. Something was on top of him, pinning him in the dirt, though it wasn't as heavy as he expected a bear to be, and it had an oddly human-sounding laugh.

Naruto was blinded by light and laughter as multiple flashlights were turned on. "You got him good, Chouji!"

Chouji smiled proudly as he stood up, freeing Naruto from underneath him. Naruto, however, stayed lying down. "You guys are terrible," which just brought another round of laughter from the group, all of which had snuck into the forest to watch Naruto get the shit scared out of him.

Naruto found himself being picked up off the ground. "Aww, I'm sorry," apologized Gaara, pulling him into a light embrace. Naruto wasn't mad, though. He was laughing along with everyone else.

**********

Gaara held the cell phone away from his ear so as not to be deafened by Naruto's impetuous laughter. The two of them seemed to be doing a lot of laughing that night. After driving him home from the bonfire at one in the morning, Naruto had decided to call up his boyfriend, claiming that he had nothing better to do and couldn't seem to get to sleep, though it wasn't like he had given sleep much of a chance to come. Gaara didn't mind, though. He had had too wonderful of a night to want it to be over.

In the span of eight hours, Gaara had made seven new friends, easily the most he'd had in his lifetime. They'd spent most of the night trading stories with each other; not that Gaara had many stories to tell, but he enjoyed the time they shared anyway. And he had his beautiful blond boyfriend to thank for it all, whom he was just about to tell so when he heard his bedroom door open and shut. He poked his head around the corner guiltily, figuring it was Kankuro coming to tell him to shut up.

A hand grabbed him roughly by the hair and slammed his head back into the wall. Gaara's heart dropped as his eyes met those of his father, clouded by rage and alcohol. One hand wrapped around Gaara's throat, while the other held up a long knife. "You sick, dirty faggot," he roared, holding the knife closer to Gaara. "You killed Karura, and Temari, and now you're going to bring disgrace to my name by traipsing around with a _boy?!_

Gaara became very still as his father rested the tip of the knife beside his eye. "I should have done this a long time ago," his father continued, an eerie calm coming over his voice. "It's about time you paid for all you've done to this family.

"And I get to be the one to kill you for it."


	7. Three cheers for creative swearing!

naruto: my poor gaara!!!

Ixea: HAHAHAHAHA

Naruto: whats so funny?!?! Gaara is in trouble!!!

Ixea: BAHAHAHA

Naruto: WHATS SO FUNNY!?!?!

Rish: i thinks its cause they scared you shitless. Ixea it that right?

Ixea: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA yeah

Naruto: it wasnt that funny.

Gaara: yeah it was

Naruto: why did you have to do that to me?

Rish: cause we dont own you

Ixea: hahaha...

Rish: on to chapter 7

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_Gaara became very still as his father rested the tip of the knife beside his eye. "I should have done this a long time ago," his father continued, an eerie calm coming over his voice. "It's about time you paid for all you've done to this family._

"_And I get to be the one to kill you for it." _

The edges of Gaara's vision began to blacken as the grip around his throat tightened, sharp nails digging into his skin. He could make out his brother's voice from behind the door, yelling, trying to get in. Kaz, however, had moved the solid wood desk in front of the door, so try as he might, Kankuro could not force it open.

Kaz twisted Gaara's head, forcing his son to look at him. The madness in the eyes that glared through him struck Gaara harder than any physical blow could have. He felt like he was breathing in ice crystals, his blood running cold as the panic finally began to set in. _He's really gonna do it._ He was unconsciously clawing at the hand around his throat."Father, no, please..."

Gaara groaned as he was struck on the temple with the butt of the knife, fighting to stay awake. His arms fell to his sides, as he had lost the strength to hold them up. Kaz leaned forward and hissed in his ear. "You're a monster, a demon. Because of you, my wife and daughter are dead, and before you kill me and my son, I've got to rid this family of you."

Sea-green eyes widened as the sharp metal slipped between his ribs and into his chest.

**********

Minato looked up from his book, sighing heavily as his son began to shout from his room upstairs, as if he was attempting to wake the dead, and most likely succeeding, too. It sounded like he was doing a little rain dance to go along with the hollering, as Naruto thundered down the stairs. He stared up at his son with a bemused smile on his face. That smile, however, fell fast as Minato took in Naruto's pale, quivering form, breathing too heavily, and eyes shining with tears. Before he could speak, Naruto grabbed his father's hand, dragging him out of the chair and towards the door. "Naruto, what's wrong..." he began to ask, but stopped as he realized that his son was talking, more to himself than to Minato.

"He's gonna kill him, he's really gonna kill him..." Naruto grabbed for the keys, but Minato got there first.

"Who's going to kill who," Minato questioned, holding the keys out of Naruto's reach, hoping to force him to calm himself down a bit. Instead, it only made him worse.

"Gaara!" he exclaimed, the tears in his eyes on the verge of falling. "His dad's gonna kill him!"

Despite not knowing who Gaara was, Minato's heart dropped at those words. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he threw it to Naruto, running out to the car. "Call 9-1-1, and give me directions. You're in no condition to drive," he added, when Naruto started to protest. He quickly, albeit reluctantly, jumped in the passenger seat.

As Minato started the car, he heard the faint sound of a woman on the other line. "9-1-1, what's your emergency?"

Minato listened intently as Naruto gave out the directions, and immediately knowing where it was, sped off down the street, doing his best to keep one eye on the road, and one eye on his distressed son.

There was no time to stop and gape at the mansion that was their destination; Minato drove straight through the wrought iron gates that had been left wide open, not even bothering to shut the car off before he ran into the house, trying to keep up with the frantic blond boy.

There was more shouting going on at the top of the stairs, where Naruto was headed. Both father and son ran full-speed up the stairs, taking two at a time. Minato paused at the top, taking in the scene before him. Naruto had run to the side of an older boy, who was, if possible, more frantic than Naruto; he was throwing himself at a closed door, which was hardly moving at all. "Move," he yelled, and both boys scurried out of the way as Minato ran at the door, body-checking it with all his might. He winced in pain, and his shoulder gave a loud 'crack,' but the door, and the desk behind it, gave way.

A red-headed boy was laying on the ground, covered in blood, three stab wounds to his chest and stomach visible through his shirt. A brunette was standing over him, wielding a long, thin knife, also covered in blood. The image before him hadn't even been processed as Minato, taken over by rage, crossed the rather large room in record time, and landing a solid punch to the older man's jaw, knocking him out before he even knew the door had been broken down.

Naruto didn't take the time to marvel at his father's inhuman-like speed; he too was across the room in record time, kneeling at Gaara's side, tightly holding on to his hand as his eyes, glazed over from pain and blood loss, turned to his brother and boyfriend. A trail of saliva and blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and as he tried to sit up, he gave a short cough, more blood spewing from his lips.

Naruto shook his head. "Don't move; the ambulance will be here soon, just hang on a little longer." Naruto was surprised at how steady his voice was; the rest of him was shaking like a leaf in gale-force winds.

Gaara complied, slowly letting himself back down. "How...?"

Naruto smiled through his tears. "You left your cell phone on, dummy," he explained, unable to raise his voice above a whisper. "I heard it all."

Kankuro knelt on Gaara's other side, grabbing his other hand. "Gaara, I'm so sorry, I should've been there, I should've..." He had to bite his lip to keep a sob from escaping.

A glimmer of consciousness shone through the fog of confusion that clouded Gaara's eyes. He shook his head, the movement almost imperceptible, and brought his hand up, still clasping that of his brother's, to wipe away the tears that stained Kankuro's cheeks. "No sorry... not your fault." Both Naruto and Kankuro felt their hearts break at Gaara's words, raspy and weak, and yet so very strong.

**********

Every second inched by as if it were its own lifetime. The hand of the clock was ticking by so slowly that, a number of times, Naruto had to logically assume that it was running low on batteries; yet when he looked at his cell phone, it yielded the same time as the hospital clock did.

Gaara had now been in surgery for six hours; they had been at the hospital for five. Naruto and Kankuro were sitting in the waiting room in silence, while Minato was pacing outside the hospital, talking on his cell phone. He had been out there for over half the time they had been at the hospital, and Naruto absently wondered what he could be doing.

All thoughts concerning his father though fled his mind as a nurse walked up to the two of them. "Kankuro Subaku," she asked in an impassive tone. Both boys jumped to their feet, hearts in their mouths, praying to Kami for good news about Gaara.

The nurse, as if suddenly noticing the anxiety outlined in their faces, broke out into a smile. "There's nothing to worry about; your brother's going to make a full recovery."

Naruto collapsed back into the chair, knees weak with relief. Kankuro remained standing. "Can we see him?"

The nurse nodded. "I'll take you to his room."

Kankuro and Naruto followed the nurse into Gaara's room. The redhead lay unconscious on an unnaturally white hospital bed, surrounded by unnaturally white walls that made his hair stand out even more. Kankuro sat down in the chair beside his brother's bed; Naruto was still standing at the door, the cold shock freezing his feet to the floor. He now felt new pity for his parents, who had had to see him lying in a bed just like that time and again.

Speaking of parents. "I'll be back in a bit," Naruto told Kankuro. "I'm gonna go see where my dad went." The older boy nodded, and Naruto turned around, leaving the two siblings alone.

Kankuro found himself glad for the ambience-filled air of the hospital. All the beeping machines and chatting people filled up the silence. It kept at bay the emotions that were threatening to overflow. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. Mere seconds seemed to pass, (though Kankuro was sure it was more like minutes; he was exhausted, and probably fell asleep) before the redhead stirred. Gaara's eyes cracked open, and he stared in Kankuro's direction. As Gaara looked away, Kankuro couldn't help but wonder if that was shame he saw on his younger brother's face. "Hey, look who's finally awake."

Gaara didn't share his enthusiasm, though. He stared down at the floor. "He's right," he said softly.

Kankuro immediately knew who 'he' was. "Gaara, you shouldn't listen to him..."

Gaara continued on as if he hadn't heard Kankuro. "I'm a monster, I'm the reason they're dead."

"Gaara, no." Kankuro grabbed Gaara's hand, squeezing it tightly. "None of this is your fault. Hey," Kankuro said, shifting so he was back in Gaara's line of sight, looking him in straight in the eyes. "You're not a monster; you're my brother, and I love you. You're the best thing to ever happen to me. And I'm pretty sure Naruto feels the same way."

"But..."

"Gaara, you're awake!" The siblings looked up at Naruto, who bounded into the room almost as if on cue. Another blond-haired man followed him in; Gaara felt like he was looking forward in time, to what Naruto would look like in twenty years. "Oh yeah." Naruto motioned towards the man. "Gaara, this is my dad."

Minato smiled down kindly at Gaara, who tried to smile back, only half-succeeding. Minato sat down on the edge of the bed. "Kankuro has informed me of you...situation," he started.

Gaara's face paled instantly, remembering. "We gotta go back home. I can't go back," he whispered into his hands.

"You won't have to."

Both Gaara and Kankuro looked up at the older man. Gaara shook his head. "Father's got the whole police force under his thumb, no charges are going to stick."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Minato's smile widened. "You've heard of Hokage Enterprises, right?" He continued after the two had nodded. "I led the company for a short time, but I stepped down when Naruto was born. The point is," he continued, ignoring their shocked faces, "there are a lot of powerful people who owe me one. Your father isn't going anywhere for a long time."

"But..." It was Kankuro who spoke this time. "He's the only living relative we have," he said, refusing to call that man 'family.' "We have nowhere else to go."

"Yes you do." Minato's smile was full of light, just like his son's, and both Subakus' spirits had been lifted even before Minato spoke again. "You're going to come live with us."

Naruto stared open-mouthed at his father in disbelief. "But the two of you are getting separate bedrooms," Minato added knowingly, looking straight at his son.

Naruto's head drooped. "Damnit."

Gaara was almost laughing with relief. It was too good to be true. They were finally rid of the man they had been forced to call father, and they were going to get a real home, and a real family. "Thank you," both siblings said simultaneously.

Naruto's grin stretched from ear to ear. "Yeah, thanks dad," he said, well, more like shouted, and hugged his father.

"Uh..." Naruto pulled away quickly as Minato turned white as the hospital walls, his eyes widening, and cradling his right arm. "Son of a... motherless...beehive!"

"Dad, what's wrong?"

Minato stood up deliberately. "I must," he said through gritted teeth, "have broke my collarbone busting down your door. I'm going to go find a nurse."

Kankuro and Gaara's worried expressions followed Minato out the door, but Naruto smiled reassuringly. "Meh, it's not that bad. Dad's tough."

Gaara moved over to one side as Naruto climbed onto the bed beside him. "How're you feeling?"

"Pretty good, actually. I really like this morphine stuff."

Kankuro's heart warmed as the blond seemed to have driven away Gaara's earlier depression. They had only been together a few weeks, but already Gaara was a different person. _No, _Kankuro corrected himself, not different. He was more like himself; he spent less time trying to hide who he was, and was less worried about protecting himself from the world. He watched as Naruto curled up in Gaara's arms, instantly falling asleep in the warmth of the man he loved. Gaara laid his head down on the pillow, gazing at the blond lovingly. _I tried to protect him, _thought Kankuro, _I tried to save him. I spent all my life trying to save him. And 'he' does it in a matter of weeks. Naruto..._

_...thank you..._

_...for doing what I could not._


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto: Son of a motherless beehive? my dad really does have some language on him doesnt he

Ixea: it amused me

Gaara: of course it did

Rish: amused me too

Naruto: i cant believe you get to live with me

Rish: its only because we dont own you that this could happen

Ixea: true...

Naruto: so thats the only reason... hmph

Gaara: knock knock

everyone else: o_O whos there?

Gaara: ammonia

everyone else: ammonia who?

Gaara: ammonia little boy i cant reach the door bell

Naruto: hehe that was funny

Gaara: thought it needed a joke

Rish: i liked it

Ixea: meh it was okay...

Rish: next chapter

Ixea: PLEASE... before Gaara wants to have another funny moment

gaara: -_-

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"_Kaz Subaku, head of Subaku Industries, was arrested late Friday night for the attempted murder of his youngest son..."_

Gaara's thumb pressed forcefully on the 'off' button on the television remote. _Fantastic,_ he thought angrily, _fucking fantastic!_ So much for keeping this quiet.

The redhead leaned back into the small, lumpy hospital bed, looking up at the clock. Naruto still had one class left before he was out of school. The doctors had agreed to discharge Gaara that afternoon; both Subaku brothers were anxiously awaiting the move to the Namikaze residence. Kankuro and Minato had spent most of the weekend at the Subaku residence, gathering the boys' things, moving as much as would fit in the rather small house that Naruto and Minato lived in. Even though Gaara was being discharged, he would still have to stay in bed for another week, minimum.

The lawyer team that Minato hired **(you'll never guess who they are, and if you do guess, I give you e-cookies!)** had strictly forbade anyone other than Kankuro, Minato, and Naruto from visiting the boy, in case his father decided to try something. Gaara had, at first, been indifferent to this decision; no one besides those three would come to see him anyways. But as the days went on, his eyes kept increasing in diameter as Naruto and Kankuro would ship in more and more get-well-soon gifts from his friends at school, who would come to the hospital every day in the hopes that they would finally be let in to see him. Gaara had almost teared up when Naruto told him that Iruka-sensei had wanted to bring their class down to visit him, not just because Iruka-sensei had wanted to see him, but because the socials class was so worried about him.

Gaara's thoughts were suddenly corked as the older blond waltzed into the hospital room. Minato's right arm hung in a sling, but if it pained him at all, he didn't show it. The other hand was steering an empty wheelchair. Gaara glowered at it. "You're not serious..."

"Yup." A nurse squeaked past the blond who was all but blocking the doorway, going over to the opposite side of Gaara's bed and pulling out the IV needle from his hand. Shaking off her offered help, Gaara immediately swung his feet over the side of the bed, sitting up with a defiant gleam in his eyes, wanting to prove that he wasn't so helpless that he couldn't even stand on his own.

But as the room started to spin, and the atmosphere seemed to get lighter and colder, Gaara was forced to realize that maybe he did need a little help. Hell, he wasn't even standing up yet, he was still sitting!

Gaara felt a hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy, now," Minato urged gently, as he and the nurse guided him into the wheelchair. He closed his eyes, tensing and gripping the sides of the chair, desperately willing the light-headedness away. He exhaled slowly as gravity returned. "Are you ok," Minato asked.

Gaara nodded deliberately, so as not to bring the dizziness back. "Minato," Gaara questioned as the young nurse began to wheel him out the door, "before we go...home..." He paused, momentarily mulling over the word he had just used. _Am I really going home?_ "Can we make a quick stop?"

Minato smiled, knowingly. "Sure."

**********

Naruto sighed and glanced at the clock for the fifth time in the past minute. Socials was one of his favourite classes, but today he was much less interested in the lesson droning on in the background as he normally was; he just wanted school to be over so he could go home with Gaara. He had been adamantly forced to spend the last five days at the hospital, and was finally allowed out today. The blond absently drummed his fingers on the desk, earning him annoyed looks from the people around him. _Only half an hour to go..._

The door at the side of the classroom creaked open, the students and teacher turning their heads to see who had opened it. Before the tell-tale red hair had even registered in his brain, Naruto was halfway across the classroom, sending books and papers flying off the desks in his wake as he rushed towards his boyfriend. Naruto compelled himself to slow down, coming to a stop before embracing the wheelchair-bound Gaara. He did his best to be gentle, but he could still see a shadow of pain behind the veils of his eyes as the hug aggravated his wounds.

As Naruto pulled away, he was simultaneously pushed out of the way, and Gaara found himself in a new embrace, one belonging to a sobbing, shaking Sakura. Gaara leaned forward slightly, trying to take some of the pressure off his stab wounds. "Shh, it's ok," he whispered in her ear, and her sobbing quieted, almost ceasing completely.

"How are you feeling," asked Kiba. Gaara peered through strands of pink hair that covered his face. Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Hinata, and Ino had formed a tight semi-circle around him, effectively keeping the other students out.

Gaara couldn't help but smile at the protectiveness that he was being shown. "Ah, I'm alright," he said, doing his best to brush their concerns away. Truthfully, he was starting to wish he hadn't come. They were all staring at him, forcing their pity upon him. It angered him, to have been reduced to something people could only pity. All they could see was a child-abuse victim, the boy who almost died at the hands of his own father; he hated it. He even caught glimpses of it in Naruto's eyes. He hated that even more.

"Iruka-sensei, I won't be in class for at least another week," Gaara told his teacher, who nodded in acceptance.

"That's fine, I'll make sure Naruto picks up all your homework, I suppose."

Gaara somehow managed to get through all the empathetic words and pats on the back from the other students. Even though he was touched that they were all so worried about him, the pity that emanated from each and every one of the students was suffocating, and soon enough Gaara found himself leaving the classroom, using the cab that was waiting outside as his getaway excuse.

The hallways were eerily empty as Gaara wheeled down them towards the exit, building up an excessive amount of speed in his frustration at the class. Lockers and doorways were whizzing by. As he came to a corner, he held on to the one wheel to slow it down in his attempt to turn. He didn't slow it down enough, however; the wheelchair was no longer under Gaara's control as it made the turn too wide, on a collision course with the lockers on the opposite wall.

And his momentum was abruptly halted. So abrupt, that if he hadn't been clutching the sides of the wheelchair, Gaara would've flown out of his seat and hit the lockers anyways. He looked back, the curiosity overcoming the pain flaring in his chest at the movement. Of all the things he could have expected to see behind him: Naruto, Iruka, a Giant Rabid Panda, this was the one at the very bottom of the list.

"Sasuke?"

The black-haired boy wordlessly took hold of the handles at the back of the wheelchair, and began wheeling Gaara forward, this time under neck-breaking speed.

Gaara wasn't sure whether to be relieved or apprehensive. I mean, sure, Sasuke had probably saved him from going back to the hospital again, where they would've forced him to stay _there_ for his bedrest period, but Gaara couldn't fathom why. All they ever did was fight; or they used to, until Gaara beat him so bad he had to be rushed to the hospital. After that day, Sasuke stayed away from Gaara. A sudden thought entered his mind. _Does he maybe want revenge...? _Sasuke would definitely be the type. And Gaara wouldn't be able to do anything if he did try to hurt him.

With all this thoughts filling his mind, Gaara was caught completely off-guard when Sasuke started to speak. "My parents died when I was ten. My brother, he was... a genius. A prodigy. Father always pushed him so hard, and he hated it. He kept telling me one day he was going to snap. And...he did.

"He beat Father and Mother to death. I was in my room, I could hear them. Mother was screaming, begging him to stop." The air between them was thick with the tension. "I couldn't do anything, I just sat there, too scared to even pray for it to stop.

"And then the screaming stopped, and I forced myself to go look. Mother and Father were lying dead on the kitchen floor. Itachi was between them, he'd slit his wrists, he was almost dead and he looked up at me and..."

Sasuke smirked; Gaara couldn't see it, as the boy was behind him, but he could feel it. "It doesn't matter. What I'm trying to say is..."

They had reached the exit doors. Sasuke walked around the wheelchair to face Gaara. "If you ever need to talk, well, I'm willing to listen."

Gaara was flabbergasted! Never in a million years would he have expected something like this from the Uchiha. But when he looked into Sasuke's eyes, he understood. There was no pity in Sasuke's eyes; the Uchiha had gone through something similar to Gaara's situation, and he knew how much the pity hurt, how much the betrayal hurt, and he knew that sometimes, it wasn't something you wanted to talk about with your family.

"Thank you."

"Hn"

_That _was more like the Sasuke he knew.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

**TIME SKIP {because we're lazy}**

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Ow, sonofa..." Naruto let the almost-curse trail off, rubbing the shoulder he had just slammed into the bookcase. Walking around in pitch-black was, as Naruto had just discovered, not a very smart idea. He didn't want to turn the lights on though; Kankuro was still sleeping on the living room couch, as they hadn't gotten around to getting another bed for him yet. The guest bed was taken up by Gaara.

Naruto felt his way to the kitchen, opening the fridge just enough to get his hand inside, wincing as the harsh white light spilled forth from the appliance. He quickly grabbed the almost-empty milk carton and gently closed the door, spending a moment to chug down the last of the milk before starting the slow journey back to his room, leaving said milk carton on the counter for him to deal with in the morning.

Naruto looked in the direction of where Kankuro's sleeping form would be laying. It felt like just yesterday the two brothers had moved in, Gaara grumbling about having to stay in bed, Kankuro laughing hysterically at Minato's cooking attempts, before agreeing to do all the cooking from there on out. Naruto was overjoyed when he learned that he would finally get to eat real food on a regular basis.

He paused by the door of Gaara's room, right beside his own. If it hadn't been two in the morning, Naruto would've gladly snuck in to pounce on the boy, startling him out of his wonderful sleep, which would be followed by much shouting directed at Naruto, which would proceed to wake the whole household up, who would then shoot glares at Naruto for the rest of the day.

"Naruto?" The word was so quiet, Naruto wasn't even sure he didn't just imagine it. Just in case he didn't though, he silently opened the door to Gaara's room. "Gaara?"

Naruto heard rustling of bedsheets, and a sleepy grunt. Realizing that Gaara was asleep, Naruto made to close the door, but stopped as heavy, laboured breathing began to register. "Nnnnn...no."

"Gaara," Naruto quietly questioned again. He entered the boy's room, closing the door behind him. A sliver of moonlight shone through the window, illuminating hands that gripped the sheets too tightly, and a tortured face, caught in the throes of a nightmare.

Naruto sat down on the bed, placing a hand on his boyfriend's arm. "Wake up," he urged, shaking the boy. When Gaara's only response was to roll over, curling up into a ball, Naruto put his hand to Gaara's forehead. The redhead's eyes shot open; panicking, he slapped Naruto's hand away, scrambling backward until his back came in contact with the wall. "Gaara," Naruto whispered, "it's just me."

Moonlight glinted off sea-green eyes. "Naruto?" Confusion laced his voice, still not quite out of the nightmare's grasp.

Naruto frowned when he moved closer, pulling Gaara into hug, and felt the boy shaking. His breaths were uneven and shallow. "It's ok, it was just a dream." Gaara's only response was to pull him closer.

Naruto didn't ask Gaara if he wanted to talk; he never did. He knew they were about his father. They'd been plaguing his sleep ever since that night...

"Do you want me to stay?"

Naruto felt Gaara's nod. He pulled away, rising off the bed. "I'm just going to turn the light on for a minute."

Naruto flicked the lightswitch, squinting at the assault on his eyes. He shuffled through the closet, hunting for the extra blankets.

Gaara couldn't help but smirk at Naruto rooting around the small closet, his cute ass unconsciously wiggling as he dug deeper and deeper for the spare blankets. The blond was beaming as he pulled his head and an oversized orange blanket out of the closet, the light gleaming off his abnormally pale skin. He had become so pale recently, Gaara was worried he was getting sick again, but Naruto would brush off his concerns every time he voiced them. His smirk faded. "Naruto, your shoulder..."

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing," the blond said nonchalantly. "I just ran into the bookcase..." The end of Naruto's sentence trailed off as he looked down at the shoulder Gaara seemed so concerned about.

He hadn't hit it that hard and it had hardly been two minute ago, it shouldn't have even bruised at all. Instead, it had turned into a great red and purple bruise that had grown to the size of Naruto's palm. All the blood drained out of Naruto's face as he collapsed to the ground. "Oh shit no."

Gaara was by his side in an instant. "Naruto, what is it?"

Naruto buried his face in his hands. "It's the cancer," he mumbled through his fingers. "Two of the signs of leukemia are pallor and excessive bruising. You've been complaining I'm too pale, and this shouldn't have even bruised..." Now Naruto was the one shaking, and the redhead subconsciously wrapped his arms around Naruto's shoulders. Naruto clung desperately to those arms. "Gaara..."

"I'm relapsing."


	9. beginning of the end

naruto: I dont want to die!!!

ixea: your not dieing...

rish: actually the way its looking...

Ixea: you say that so ... whats the word im looking for

Gaara: CALMLY!!!

ixea: thats it

Rish: well it happends. if he dies then he does.

Naruto: i want hugs. why cant it be sasuke that dies. that bastard.

Ixea: no one said it was for sure

Gaara and naruto: yay

Ixea: what happens next. i want to

know can i know yet?

Rish: yes... on to next chapter i suppose.

Naruto: BUT WHY MEE

Ixea and Rish: cause we dont own you.

Ixea: and maybe we dont like you anymore

Rish: haha on to next chapter

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Argg, sorry I'm late." Naruto and Minato looked up as a man dressed in a white lab coat, with hair that was even redder than Gaara's, entered the office. He was a little too thin, and had dark circles under his eyes. Naruto remembered that his previous doctor, Yahiko-sensei, had looked like that. He had been terribly over-worked. So, it seemed, was this man.

Minato shook the man's hand. "Nagato-sensei, right?" The doctor nodded, and proceeded to sit down at the opposite side of the desk which Naruto and his father were facing. _**{A/N: Sensei is used as a title for doctors and lawyers, as well as teachers.}**_

"So, Naruto," the redheaded oncologist began, "I understand that you're having a possible relapse with your leukemia."

"Yeah, I've been really pale and tired lately, and I had pneumonia pretty bad a few months ago, and, I, uh..." Naruto pulled his shirt to the side to reveal the bruise on his shoulder. It had gotten bigger over the course of the night, 4 or 5 inches in diameter, coloured a nasty, mottled red and purple that looked as if the blood was going to burst forth at any second. "I got this last night."

Nagato-sensei gave a low, drawn-out whistle, biting his lip in thought. "Well," he said, Naruto and Minato hanging off every word, "I'm going to get you in for a bone marrow biopsy this afternoon, just to be safe, but it looks to me like you're right about the relapse, Naruto. I'll wait for the results of the biopsy before making any treatment plans, as it should give us some clue as to how far along the cancer's progressed."

Naruto was only half-listening; neither he nor Gaara had gotten any more sleep that night, he was exhausted. He dazedly signed the consent forms that were laid out in front of him, and with the appointment set, both father and son exited the office.

"You wanna go home for a bit?" Minato questioned Naruto. A cool wind flew at them, running its fingers through their identical blond locks, reminding them that summer was almost at a close. The boy nodded wordlessly, shivering at the wind's touch, hair blown over his face, obscuring his eyes. Minato reached over, drawing back the hair in front of his eyes. They were so sad. Azure blue waters that had been dulled by the shadows of memory and fear were accentuated by the sharp and unnatural contrast of his pale skin. Minato frowned. Gaara had been right, Naruto was too pale. He hated himself for not seeing it sooner.

The older man sighed, all the guilt of the world weighing down upon his shoulders. He had been so busy with the Subaku court case lately; any free time he had was spent at the lawyer's office, he had hardly talked to his son in weeks. He had always believed, in the back of his mind, the way everyone does, that they would have ample enough time for talking.

And that assumption was costing him dearly.

"Alright, I'll drive you home for a bit, I have to talk to Jiraiya."

Naruto didn't say anything, hopping in the passenger seat of the car. Minato resolved to have a good, long talk with his son when he returned home; they could both use each other's comfort. He slid in to the driver's seat, gripping the steering wheel hard to stop his hands from shaking.

Barely more than a year ago, he had lost his beloved wife. And now all too soon, he was going to lose his precious son.

**********

The secretary hardly glanced at him as Minato waltzed past the front desk toward Jiraiya's office. Shiore had protested at first when Minato had calmly walked in as if he owned the place, but eventually she had warmed to the idea that he was welcome in the lawyer's office.

Minato's eyes narrowed when he entered the office and saw, not the white-haired man he had expected, but a pale, dark-haired man instead. "Orochimaru. Where's Jiraiya?"

Orochimaru didn't even look up from the papers laid out neatly on the desk. "The hell if I know."

Minato sat down opposite the dark-haired man. He hated dealing with Orochimaru; the guy gave him the creeps. He'd never seen the man crack a genuine smile, and he and Jiraiya were always getting into arguments. But he was Jiraiya's partner, and just as much a part of this case as anyone.

Orochimaru gestured to a file folder at the corner of the desk. "Court begins on Monday. I expect the boys will not need to testify until Wednesday or Thursday. Jiraiya will need to talk with them both beforehand, prepare them for the questions and whatnot."

Minato nodded, knowing that the unpleasant man wasn't going to offer anything further. He grabbed the folder off the desk, closing the door carefully behind him as he exited the office. Turning around, he jumped, coming, quite literally, face-to-face with the second of the lawyer duo. The white haired Jiraiya laughed as Minato slumped against the door. "Kami, Jiraiya-sensei, you want to land me in the hospital too?!"

"Sorry," he apologized through the laughs, "I just couldn't resist."

Minato grumbled incoherently. "When do you want me to bring Kankuro and Gaara by?"

"In the next few days I suppose, doesn't really matter when. Oh and by the way, thanks a lot for helping out with the police department." Jiraiya gave a sheepish smile. The pair of lawyers had been unable to make any headway with the policemen, all of whom were under the Subaku head's payroll, until Minato and his many influences had entered the picture.

"Not a problem," the man said absently. It wasn't until then Jiraiya noticed that something was off with his usually cheerful friend.

"Minato, are you ok?"

Minato closed his eyes, and all the pain that had been hidden a moment ago was now so apparent. "Naruto..." he whispered, and Jiraiya's heart plummeted. "Naruto's relapsing."

"Oh god, Minato, I'm so sorry..."

Jiraiya inadvertently jumped, startled by Minato's fist slamming into the closed office door, leaving a few splinters by the wayside. Both of them had earned glares from the secretary, as well as curious glances from the crowd in the waiting area. Jiraiya was sure Orochimaru was shooting them death stares from behind the broken wood. _Oh well, this just means we get a new door._

Minato winced as he pulled his fist out of the indent in the wood, relaxing his fist but keeping his hand curled in that same position, letting the hand fall to his side. He had put enough force behind the punch to have definitely shattered a few bones.

'_You idiot, your broken collarbone just healed, now you go and break your hand?!' _As much as he wanted to chastise the younger man, Jiraiya bit the words back. It wasn't what Minato needed to hear.

"I'm gonna lose him, Jiraiya," Minato spoke, no louder than a whisper, and yet the words seemed to cut through the air, given strength by the sheer weight behind them. "I couldn't hold on...to either of them. I couldn't protect them. I couldn't save them."

"He's not dead yet Minato."

"He might as well be!" Minato immediately regretted the words. He hadn't meant for it to come out like that. "There's not enough time," he tried to explain, to make it sound less harsh, "all the things I wanted to teach him... he's not even going to get to graduate." Tears were starting to form as he reminisced. "Every summer since he was eight, Naruto's begged me to let him go skydiving, and I'd always say, 'We'll do it another day Naruto, the parachutes will still be there tomorrow. I'd always planned on letting him go one day, hell, I wanted to go with him. But now we'll never get the chance."

Minato shook his head, forcing a painful smile to stretch across his face. "Shit, I'm rambling," he muttered. The effort of sustaining the smile was too much, however; he gasped in air shakily, the strangled beginnings of a sob. He gave up trying to keep the tears back, letting them fall down his face. "I don't know what to do, Jiraiya. 

"What do I do?"

Jiraiya placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, not liking the answer anymore than he knew Minato would. "Be there for him. Aside from that, all we can do is hope."

**********

Naruto looked up at the sound of the door opening, and was greeted by the brothers, anxious for news. "So," asked Kankuro, sitting down on the edge of Naruto's bed, beside the blond, "how'd it go?"

"Fine, I guess," He replied dully, "they had me take a bone marrow biopsy. Results'll be back in a couple of days."

Kankuro winced. "Aren't those supposed to really hurt?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not really, they gave me an anaesthetic. It's a little sore, though," he said, unconsciously rubbing his hip bone. "How was school?"

"Terribly boring." The answer came from behind him; Gaara wrapped his arms around Naruto's shoulders, leaning down to plant a kiss on the boy's cheek. "I fell asleep twice, once when Tsunade-sensei was yelling at me. She got kind of mad. She actually threatened to suspend me."

Naruto couldn't help but laugh. The image was just too comical; he could clearly visualize Tsunade-sensei with an anime-vein pulsing on her temple as Gaara snored away beneath her brazen glare.

Kankuro was chucking too. "Naruto, where's your father? I need to talk to him."

"He's outside somewhere," the blond responded, his eyes following his boyfriend's brother out the room. He closed his eyes and sighed as Gaara sat down on the bed behind him, arms still encircling him, placing his head in the crook of Naruto's neck. The redhead shut his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling Naruto's musky scent. He couldn't help but frown a little. It was different than it usually was, it wasn't quite right. It seemed... colder? Could a scent be colder without the temperature dropping? Could a scent be colder _with _the temperature dropping, for that matter?

"Have you ever considered your own mortality?"

Gaara opened his eyes and looked at the back of his partner's head thoughtfully. "No, not really."

"It's so strange, to think about it all still being here when you're gone. It'll just keep going, unaffected. I mean, I've never done anything of worth. No one's going to remember me in ten years. It's kinda sad. What's the point of living if it's all lost in the end?"

Gaara didn't attempt to answer the question; he knew he wasn't going to be able to come up with a right answer. "You sound like you're giving up."

Naruto twisted around to look his boyfriend in the eyes. "I'm gonna die, Gaara." The lack of emotion behind the words was unsettling. Gaara expected him to be angry, or afraid, or hurt, or something! Anything but nothing. "No amount of fighting's going to change that."

"Doctors have been wrong before. Just because _they _say it's your time doesn't mean a damn thing." Naruto tried to look away, but Gaara still had hold of his shoulders, and turned him around to face him again. "You're one of the strongest people I know, Naruto. If anyone can beat this thing, you can."

There was a flicker of...something... deep in Naruto's eyes. "Gaara, will you promise me something?"

"Anything."

Naruto grabbed hold of the arms placed on his shoulders, holding on tight, as if he believed they would disappear at any second. "Don't ever leave me."

"Only if you promise to never leave _me._"

And all of a sudden, the nothingness in Naruto's eyes was gone, replaced with reason. Maybe even a little hope. Naruto nodded, falling forward onto Gaara's chest and resting there, emotionally exhausted. "I promise," he whispered. Gaara smiled, trying his hardest to mean it. He wasn't sure if he succeeded.

**********

Gaara started blankly at the logarithmic proofs on the page in front of him. _I hate math. _He glanced over at the empty desk beside him. Naruto hadn't started on them either. Then again, he hadn`t got much of a chance. He`d been called to the office for a phone call twenty minutes ago, and with every other minute that passed, Gaara became more and more worried.

Gaara jumped as the bell rang, the rest of the students eagerly rushing out of the classroom for lunch. Gaara stayed seated for a moment more, then gathered up his and Naruto`s books, rushing them to their respective lockers before heading to the cafeteria. He sat down at a table between Sakura and Shino. The whole gang was there, including a few extras; Lee, Tenten, Neji, Sai, and surprisingly enough, Sasuke. "Hey, where's Naruto," Kiba asked. Gaara was about to answer that he didn't know when he caught sight of vivid blond hair by the doorway.

"Hey guys." Naruto sat down at the end of the long table. Everyone seemed to sense that there was something on his mind, for no one looked away when he sat down. Realizing that was his cue, Naruto sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "So, today's going to be my last day of school for a while."

"Why?" Almost everyone at the table asked the question simultaneously. There would have been smiles all around if they hadn't been as worried as they were.

"I'm...starting chemotherapy treatment at the hospital tomorrow morning."

Everyone was dead silent in disbelief. Shikamaru was the first to speak. "You have cancer," he asked slowly.

Naruto nodded. "Leukemia."

"Naruto..." Ino gently hugged him. "I..."

"I know," he whispered to the blonde girl. "It's ok."

The rest of the lunch hour passed by in quiet shock. Naruto received hugs and encouraging words from everyone, though Naruto found he was giving out far more words of encouragement than what he was receiving. Gaara sat through it all in silence, trying to absorb the words.

_...starting chemotherapy treatment..._

This is it, Gaara knew, this is the end. The beginning of the end of the one he was with.

The one he loved.

_This can't be it._

A chorus of groans echoed around the table as the bell rang; almost everyone there had gym for next class. Gym in and of itself was not so bad. Gym with Gai-sensei, however.... Lee, of course, was the exception, jumping up excitedly, spurting some quote from his favourite teacher and idol, and racing off down the hallway.

Naruto and Gaara slowly made their way down the hall, left in the wake of other students rushing off to class. Neither said a word; both were too afraid to talk. The depressing quiescence was broken quickly though, when they reached the gym and saw the blond's father.

"Hi, boys."

"Hi dad." A short pause. "Are you gonna tell us why you're here?"

"Yes. But first of all, I have a question. Gaara?"

"Hn?"

"Are you afraid of heights?"

"No... Why?"

"Because, we're going..." Dramatic pause. "SKYDIVING!"

Naruto's face lit up instantly. "Are we really?!"

Minato laughed. "Yes, but we have to go now. Where's Kankuro?"

"He's in math," Gaara responded, "should I go get him?"

"Yes you should," Minato responded. "Naruto, you should probably go say goodbye to your friends."

Naruto nodded eagerly, asking, "Will they let you go skydiving with a broken hand," and not even waiting around for the answer, running into the gym as Gaara took off back down the hallway, smiling to himself.

_I guess... it's not _quite _over. Not yet._


End file.
